


Apterous

by Killo89



Series: Tino, Guardian Angel [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers, Joséphine Ange Gardien
Genre: Aggression, Break Up, Brotherly Love, Bullying, Declarations Of Love, Dysfunctional Family, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Family Bonding, Family Drama, Family Feels, Family Issues, Father-Son Relationship, First Love, Flashbacks, Forbidden Love, Gangs, Guardian Angels, Identity Reveal, Lies, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, Love/Hate, M/M, Magic, Male Homosexuality, Married Couple, Missing Persons, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Strangers to Lovers, Truth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2018-08-14 12:16:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 35,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8013397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killo89/pseuds/Killo89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tino is a guardian angel assigned to a... problematic family. He has under his wings Emil, a boy bullied by a stranger, Gilbert, a lovesick fool trying to rebuild his couple and Peter, a young boy whose father and brother have been missing for months.<br/>Already unsure he can patch up all of this, he's struck by the worst enemy of angels: passion; and becomes exactly what an angel shouldn't be: in love.</p><p>And love burns wings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Angels have to care

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter's been reworked and rewritten to match the plot of the whole series. You do not need to know of the other stories to understand this one, they are independant but still connected to one another.  
> This one takes place way after the first ones, in 2010.
> 
> Republished on June the 27th 2017.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's been reworked and rewritten to match the plot of the whole series. You do not need to know of the other stories to understand this one, they are independant but still connected to one another.  
> This one takes place way after the first ones, in 2010.
> 
> Republished on June the 27th 2017.

Tino landed on the ground smoothly as the magic dust around him faded out. He took a deep breath and expired pleasantly, enjoying the pure air of Earth. It always felt good to be on mission back on Earth. The happiness he felt contrasted a lot with the Earthlings’ misery; but that what was his job was about. He was there, like many others, to help the Earthlings live better and more comfortably. He had seen a lot of humans in his long life, and dear were they sad. Then, Tino acted, did magic tricks, helped, comforted, consoled, even cried, and in the end, he could solely remember the smile on his clients’ faces once happiness was theirs.

On his shoulder was a brownish handbag which contained many, many things. This magic bag was able to bear an infinite amount of artifacts that could come handy at some point in Tino’s mission. He also hid in there some of his belongings, like perfumes, umbrellas, even some clothes. He sought in the bag a piece of paper which always appeared in the same pocket. That is how his boss, the Upthere, transmitted him the pieces of information needed to start his mission. They sometimes used phones or a mystic sign that scared Tino most of the time, like magically carving the message in an untouched tree. Once in a while, they would even have the courtesy of offering him a function, a job, to make sure he would stay as close as possible to his client.

But on the piece of paper was the most important: the identity of his client. He took it out of the bag after he found it, releasing an “ah” of contentment. He unfolded the sheet carefully, prying to himself to be assigned to someone he had already met in the past. He could never stay long after his mission was over, hence why he never had the opportunity to appreciate his new friends’ happiness, their joys and newfound laughter.

On the unfolded sheet was one name “Emil Køhler”.

He sighed. Of course it would be someone new. It was nice but so inconvenient. The pros were: he would meet a new family with whole new personalities, whole new problems, whole new pasts and histories, but the cons were: he had to find the guy, and that could take an entire day. He once had to chase a client in the city, as they were busy and were running from there to there, leaving a place two minutes only after entering it.

Tino looked around him happily and scented the wood’s fragrance. The smell of a park of nature inside a polluted area was relieving. Nature always smelled good. The trees were not very diverse, solely warty birches next to big and sumptuous weeping willows damaged by the kids that seemed to play here a lot, although none was to be seen as the cloudy sky threatened to pour on the ground its merciless waters.. A river traveled along the side of the parcel. It was impossible to perceive anything past the trees that protected the other bank, but Tino expected some pastures behind the natural wall. The trees imposing enough to support the weight of a human had branches connected to trees of the opposite bank. Some wooden sticks were used to maintain the structure solid, but had a bird decided to rest on it, it would have collapsed immediately. Tino walked peacefully along the river, following its inexorable path. He passed by a kids’ playground, mainly composed of seesaws. One of them was shaped to resemble an Indian boat, another one an owl, and lastly a dolphin.

He continued his way towards the end of the area and found out it ended in a beach of gravels, whose entrance was protected by wooden fences that forbade the unmindful drivers to reach this zone. The sight was bewitching: a petite dam one could access to thanks to an old and dangerous-looking bridge; the water certainly rotted the matter and a calm atmosphere.

The almost abrupt slope that led to the beach had a smoother path formed by the comings and goings of people. Next to it, at the apparent roots of a weeping willow, were the rests of a fire which were still fresh. Tino walked down the slope and breathed the humid air in. It was a tiny shore, not really comfortable, but it had to be source of fun for the kids during hot summer days, therefore explaining the branches connected to the other bank: it had to be a springboard.

Dragonflies went from flower to flower, and Tino had to take a step back to make sure none of those would attack him.

Tino did not know if he landed in a city, but he could hear the roaring of motors, however this boisterous atmosphere soon faded out, leaving Tino in an utter silence.

And it soon became overwhelming. What broke the tranquility was hearing a mumbled cry. It came from behind, and he climbed the slope quickly to see, near the playground, a man stabbing a smaller-built body. At first glance, it didn’t seem that violent, but Tino, after further inspection, understood it was a matter of life or death. He would have intervened no matter the graveness, but perhaps not with the same punishment in mind for the attacker. He first screamed a loud “stop” that echoed between the trees, but the man did not seem that eager to actually _stop_. Tino sure did not look intimidating on the outside, but he was a harsh beast when driven crazy. Especially of anger.

Running towards the attack, Tino snapped his finger, his way of using magic, and the attacker was suddenly pushed away from the petite silhouette to be grappled against the hard ground. Unable to lift even a fingertip without understanding why, he struggled vainly against the firm magic preventing any move.

The spell broke quickly afterwards, before Tino could even catch up with him. The man took a corner and truly left. Tino didn’t have the time to catch him and punishing him like he originally wanted to, as the silhouette which has been beaten up was laying miserably on the grass. Tino knelt down next to him and helped him sitting up, then standing up.

The silhouette happened to be a boy who looked young, still in his puberty. He had blond hair which was so thin one could see his scalp. That was the con of blondness, especially when this was that accentuated. His frail figure had difficulties standing up, therefore Tino spotted a wooden table surrounded with stony benches and led the way towards them. He sat the boy on one of the bench of stone, caressing his back to make him at ease. The action had taken his breath away, but overall, he seemed alright. Tino assumed he was only legitimately shocked.

“Are you alright?” He asked the boy as he reached the other’s hair to clean it up. “Something broken?”

“I... don’t think so...” was the groggy answer that came out more as a whisper than a full-voiced sentence.

“Why was he punching you?” Tino asked, worried. “What’s your name?”

“Emil… Steilsson?”

Shock was one good drug if you asked. He was so surprised it took him time to actually remember his exact name. But at least, Tino found his client, although he was in a bad shape.

“Okay, okay. Let’s get you home, will you? Where do you live?”

“Err… Yeah… No! We can’t go home!”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“Because… W-We cant.”

Tino frowned. He took Emil by the arm and judged if he was able to walk. His body was shaking of fragility, his bones even felt like threatening to break and collapse. His skin was pale, comparable to the icing of a cake.

And it made Tino hungry. He had to mentally slap himself to stop thinking about food, but he could never refuse something anyone offered him. Especially something sugary. Another slap.

The boy looked around twenty or so. He wore out-of-fashion clothes, being white boots along with brown pants. His brown jacket covering white shirts had no collar, hence why a white cloth, reminding the ones of the aristocrats, slipped around his neck, his style was however far from it. If this guy hadn’t been bullied in school, then Tino was an inexperienced angel, and little tip: he was an excellent angel.

“Calm down, everything is okay now.”

It took time for Emil’s breath to slow down, its frenetic rhythm seemed unstoppable. Tino soothed him with a mellifluous voice. Sweet-tongued, he managed to prevent any tear from falling. The tensed atmosphere vanished under Tino’s voice which he deepened with each word he pronounced.

“So… Why was this guy punching you?” Tino asked again. The boy’s face lit up, the recent events revealing themselves on his pinkish lips and white locks. His hair wasn’t that curly, but one bang seemed to come right back in his mouth. He should seriously cut it, it didn’t even look like he took time to brush his hair. His face was snow white, the soft skin didn’t carry any acne and Tino would have liked to look like this younger. He blushed at the thought but brushed it away quickly afterwards.

“Because I…. no… Thanks… Who are you?”

His words were slow and his mind was visibly hazy. The side-effects of the shock were still affecting him, but he soon took his composure back and a somewhat sense of sangfroid.

“Who are you?” he asked on a calmer tone, taking low and deep breaths.

“My name? It’s Tino Väinämöinen.”

“I see… Thanks, Tino...”

“Do you want me to bring you back home? Wait, no. I’ll help anyway. Tell me where you live, I’ll help you home. I promise you won’t be attacked. We’ll see what we’ll do with your parents, right?

“O-Okay… I guess.”

Tino helped him standing up by taking him by the arm. Emil did not seem to mind, but they had to walk slowly. He wouldn’t keep up with Tino’s pace anyway, and with how much time the boy needed to remember the path home, Tino thought they’d arrive at midnight the very next week.

They passed by a bridge, following the river, then met a football field one could access with a rocky and dangerous pathway, and finally arrived in front of a small house. An albino, judging from the color of his skin and hair, was gardening in the backyard. Tino knocked at the door. The house seemed peaceful, yet unaware of the recent aggression. Emil’s back straightened against Tino’s forearm.

“Are you sure you live here?” Tino asked, looking at the boy curiously. “You don’t seem so s-”

The door cracked open. A blond man, taller than Tino but not by much, appeared. Longish hair that was pulled back by a silver hairclip. His eyes were similar to Emil’s, and his pale skin and hair were a sign of a family relationship. He had a strange aura of mystic floating around him and Tino suspected him instantly. Of anything and nothing simultaneously.

“Emil?” his voice weirdly boomed. “Who did that? Where is he? Mathias, take the baseball bat!” he raised the voice but it still sounded like honey. It was deep and low, and Tino had to acknowledge it gave him some sexiness.

Tino’s gaze promptly switched towards Emil again. The man took him by the shoulders and helped him walk inside, not even troubling himself to look what Tino was doing. The angel entered and closed the door behind him and proceeded to follow Emil and his relative but stopped in his path when a bodybuilder-like man approached him with a baseball bat. He swore his voice obliterated his ears.

“LUKAS! I’VE GOT THE BAT! YA WANTED TO PLA-”

When he stopped his screaming, noticing the smaller man next to him a bit afraid by the swings of the bat right next to his head, he began to smile to greet this unknown guest.

“Hello! I’m Mathias. You need something? What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Sweetheart? This man was overly affective, this was terrifying.

“Emil has been attacked.” Tino bluntly stated to distance the guy. “I aided him getting out of it. I don’t know what happened, and I’m Tino.”

“Attacked…?” Mathias repeated slowly. “Oh no...”

Mathias ran to the living room where the one called Lukas was bombarding Emil with questions. Tino silently followed. He did not pay attention to his surroundings, more focused on the scene playing in from of him. Lukas and Emil were sat on a couch, Emil’s gaze was ported on nothing in particular, he was paler than he was with Tino, oddly enough. Lukas, on the other hand, whose facial traits were severe already, had a firm and strict expression that seemed to scream anger, but the questions and the attention he was both giving and asking transmitted his true feelings. He genuinely felt worried, yet Emil remained indifferent.

“Did that already… happen?”

“It’s the third time already.” Lukas announced as he stopped his interrogation. He shrugged and then stared at the ceiling. “We never know why he’s harassed. Each time, the police was powerless. He never answers our questions either, nothing.”

“I can’t bear it anymore!” Mathias almost broke into tears. “Emil, you have to tell us why! We need this only piece of information to put an end to it!”

Tino’s phone buzzed. It felt impolite to open his message here, but man, this was certainly a text from the Upthere. He opened it and read it mentally: “Babysitter”. Oh, it had to be his function. He sighed. They always managed to be late in the Upthere. That’s disappointing.

Tino put his phone in his handbag again and saw Emil standing up wordlessly, going upstairs. His slow pace was making the stars crack with each step he made. Tino looked at Mathias and Lukas, but the bigger man was crying on Lukas’ shoulder, while the smaller one just oddly patted the other’s head until his tears dried down.

Once Mathias was off somewhere else, Lukas sat straight and looked at Tino with piercing eyes.

“You said you were Tino, haven’t you?” He asked.

“I am Tino, indeed.”

“I’m Lukas, glad to meet you. And you must be Peter’s new babysitter then. Im glad you came, thank you very much for helping Emil. We’re a bit overworked to take care of Peter right now, with his father gone… It’s good you’ve accepted all of our conditions.”

Tino was a bit frightened. The Upthere had a tendency to push him into situations he knew nothing about. What did he agree with?

“His father is gone? Where is he?”

“On a business trip, and with Emil’s problems and our own jobs, we can’t deal with Peter.”

“Um. I see.”

“He’s at school right now. You have to pick him up at four this afternoon. I’ll give you the address of the school, don’t worry. Because we need you most of the time, you can sleep in the vacant room. Is that okay with you? I mean, you already agreed on the contract.”

“Yes, it’s alright but… Emil…? Shouldn’t someone speak with him?”

“He won’t answer us. He never did. He locks the door so that we can’t get in.”

“Do you think… I could give it a try?” Tino gently asked.

“Do as you wish”, Lukas said between his teeth. It was not anger speaking. He seemed chagrined by Emil’s situation, but it also looked like he didn’t want to give up. Sadly, facts were against him. He was desperate.

Tino walked upstairs. The stairs were made of wood, so old stepping on them created a cacophony of cracks. The stairs ended in a long white corridor. The carpeted floor was greyish, and it was surprisingly clean. Such a floor had to be a pain in the ass to just vacuum, Tino could easily imagine grand cleaning sessions being held here, spending all day in the closed corridor to wash it.

Faint sobs were coming from the first left door of the corridor. It was a subtle, muffled sound. Tino did not knock, rather, he spoke with a calm and angelic voice.

“Emil.. Would you like to... speak to me?”

The silence he received for an answer meant more than a screamed no. He wondered whether to unlock the door himself or give the boy the privacy he deserved.

Well, privacy isn’t always for the best. Tino snapped his fingers, the small click of the door startling Emil, Tino guessed from the sudden movement of the bedsheets. The door magically opened. The room was of average size, the walls white and blue, a unique window offering sight of the garden and a single bed. On one wall were posters of group bands, TV shows and a world map. In front of the bed was a desk, on which multiple sheets were laying. Books of all sorts, some coins, controllers of a videogame console and even some snacks could be found on the ground of the room. Alongside them were the traditional dirty clothes. The room smelled like death, Tino couldn’t fathom it. It smelled like the window hadn’t been opened in month.

“Emil… This is not a… clean room.” he stated.

His raspy voice didn’t reach Tino’s ears, it sounded like all the tears that didn’t show up were now stuck in his throat.

“What did you say?” Tino asked smilingly.

“I said, I noticed.” Emil rashly answered as he sat up suddenly on his bed. His face was still as white as milk, although the area above his mouth and around his nose became reddish. Under his eyes were the phantoms of tears.

“Emil… Dare to tell me what happened?” Tino said calmly, sitting next to the boy. “I kinda saved you. You owe me something.”

“Guess so.” Tino was proud Emil was taking it like this. He almost was reliev- “But I don’t want to.”

“You… You should!” Tino added. “If you want help, you need to tell what happened.”

“Point is, I don’t want help.”

“But you need it.” Tino stopped the childish argumentation here. He was speaking to a teen, not a child. “Was it someone you knew?”

“What”?

“The attacker.”

“No.”

“Not even in your school?”

“Listen, I don’t want to deal with you. Go away, please.”

“I’d like to help you, personally. Are you sure you don’t want me to-”

“GO AWAY!”

Tino quieted and sighed, catching a pillow sent right to his face. He gave up for this time, but only for this time. He couldn’t force the kid to open up, he had to earn his trust beforehand. He stood up and exited, closing the door behind him. Looking at his watch, he noticed it was around midday. He headed downstairs and encountered Lukas, a notepad and pen in hands, writing something down. When Lukas lifted his head up and saw Tino, he observed him some seconds before reaching out for the note he was writing and handing it to him, all of this in an odd slow motion.

“This is the address of Peter’s school and a picture of him. The school is not that far, but it’s to make sure; our former babysitter sometimes… forgot about him.”

At this, and before Tino could even think of answering, a voice boomed from the garden, it was hoarse but now low-pitched.

“Hey! It only happened twice!”

“Gilbert,” Lukas coolly stated as he approached the garden, Tino silently following. “I don’t even know why you are gardening in _our_ garden. You’re here since yesterday. Elizabetha threw you out? Away?”

“Luke!” Mathias cried, approaching. “Don’t mess with his feelings! He’s sad...” The last words were whispered, as not to be heard by the albino.

Lukas only rolled his eyes and turned to Tino. He explained he didn’t care about Gilbert’s love story and his wellbeing was sure something he never paid attention to. Mathias did, however, and that is why the guy could end up in their house for days sometimes. He just sleeps on the couch though, Lukas added with a smirk, as he made sure he would never have the comfy vacant room so he would go away quicker. In fact, he never told him they had a vacant room, he went to the couch by himself, not asking anyone anything.

“Well, It would be appreciated if he could be sad somewhere else.” Lukas’ voice rose so Gilbert could hear. He didn’t seem to dislike Gilbert, just the squatting part. Tino could understand, they were already four here, from what he knew.

Gilbert stopped whatever he was doing and came to Lukas, placing a hand on his shoulder that Lukas swept away with his own.

“I’m sorry Lukas,” he whispered weakly. “I’m sure I’m not as awesome as before. Elizabetha wouldn’t want me back...”

Gilbert looked like he would crumble, if not for Mathias’ help who came to by his side to support his weight. Mathias glared at Lukas and mouthed “well done”, before Gilbert buried his teary face in Mathias’ shoulder. “Lukas, we don’t need to bring him down. Behave with him like you would do with Emil!”

Lukas just shrugged and left. Tino noticed how he wouldn’t be apologizing anytime soon. It didn’t sound like him.

The sight of this broken down Gilbert kind of broke Tino’s heart. Unfortunately, Gilbert wasn’t his client, he wasn’t allowed to-.

His phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the new text he received. “Gilbert”, it stated.

 _In – cre – di – ble_. The guy was also his client. Two in row was a lot, he didn’t want his mission to end up like the one he did some centuries ago with six clients at the same time.

Mathias and Gilbert left for the living room, Tino kindly followed and sat down in front of them, accepting a drink Mathias was offering. It was beer. Tino liked beer, as long as he didn’t go nuts and overboard as to end up wasted. He had to work, he couldn’t drink lots now.

“Gilbert, this is Tino, Peter’s new babysitter. Tino, here’s Gilbert. He’ll be there for some time.”

The albino, it had to be an albino with those piercing red eyes and this whitish skin, lifted his head up and tried to give Tino a smile, but failed miserably and couldn’t help the frown on his face.

“Glad to meet you, Gilbert. May I ask what happened? You have any problem?”

He had already an idea of what is problem was. Globally, something along “I fucked up with my wife and she doesn’t want me back. She perhaps hates me.” It was a traditional mission, it had to be. As long as it was some stupid love affair, it could always be patched up.

“Yeah”, he said, passing a hand in his white hair. His red eyes were impressing. Tino never met a lot of albinos, they always were rare. “I just… Well, Elizabetha, my wife, threw me out because of… something I did…”

“What did you do?” Tino asked sincerely, not a hint of sarcasm or hypocrisy in his voice and face. He was concerned for his client. Loves affairs were easily patched up, but still emotionally hard on humans.

“I got into a fight with her ex-husband, who is still a friend of hers. She kicked me out.”

Oh, well. Not something extraordinary. Poor girl, though. Gilbert was just a brainless idiot, while she had to bear the fact she married an idiot who combated one of her friends. Tino kind of admired her now, but still, he’d help Gilbert.

“Was there a reason for you to fight him?”

“On the moment, yeah...” Gilbert muttered, visibly not sure whether to seem convincing or worth of pity. “He just wanted to mess with me and I’m sure he was trying to get her back, and with how things went, he did a good job...”

“That’s not the first time”, Mathias absentmindedly added. “Your relationship has worsened recently. You’re both going through hard times.”

“It cannot be always your fault, Gilbert.” Tino kindly added.

“Of course it’s not,” he agreed. “Well, most of the time, it may be me, but she also has her shortcomings!”

“Like everyone. I’m sure everything will go back to normal,” Tino said joyfully. “You should perhaps just apologize, don’t you think?”

“I’ve tried, but she doesn’t even let me call her.”

“If you’re not getting along very well, try to spend some times without each other. It always help to have fresh air, doesn’t it?”

“You… You’re right…” Gilbert said, his face lighting up suddenly. “I’ll finish the garden I promised you, Mattie. Then, I’m going to do Alfred’s.”

He stood up and eagerly left for the garden. Tino curiously looked where he went. He laughed silently and humorously asked Mathias: “He’s your… gardener or something?”

“Nah, just a friend who strangely enjoys gardening. He’s one of my best buddies! Along with Lukas, Berwald, Alfred… Well, many cool guys.”

“I get it. So Lukas is a friend? Is he related to Emil in any way?”

“Yes, he’s his big brother. And Berwald is Peter’s father. We all live together because we are like a family.”

“You enjoy each other’s company this much? I suppose it’s never boring around here.

“No, not really. There are always things to do. But you, Tino?

“M-Me?”

“Yeah, you. Got family here or something?”

“Oh no… It just… I’m traveling a lot and decided to stay here longer than expected,” he carefully lied. He didn’t have to tell the truth, it could jeopardize the organization of his mission.

“Nice to have you here, then! I’m making dinner today, it’ll be ready in some minutes, you’ll live here for a while, you’ll have to grow accustomed to the weird food we make here sometimes. Gosh, hope my pasta hasn’t burnt yet, I kinda of have been interrupted!”

Tino thanked him with a smile. Mathias left quickly, swiftly. All alone in this living room, he would have loved to investigate in here, but he had no reason to right now.

This family seemed counterproductive. Quite… problematical. And Gilbert… Gilbert, Gilbert, Gilbert… How should he even help him with his wife? Where was even his happiness? With or without this Elizabetha? It was hard to guess, he’d have to make some more research.

He mused for a long time, he thought, but was woken up by Mathias’ call for dinner: “Guys, it’s ready! Gilbert, I even made pasta with the receipt lil’ Feli gave you!”

Tino heard all of Gilbert’s tools drop to the ground, just for pasta, obviously. His dirty face, unclean hands and smelly hair wasn’t that appetizing though. Mathias forced him to go to the bathroom before, to at least do something about the dirt.

Tino just walked to the table and sat down silently, observing the food. It looked delicious. It was pasta, it had to be good. The sauce covering it seemed so juicy and tasty. Tino didn’t know he could salivate this much, this thought kind of disgusted him however.

Mathias sat down to the chair at the end of the table, the furthest from Tino. Next to Tino was a free seat, in front of him two free seats and one final seat to his left, facing Mathias.

“Where is Lukas?” Tino asked calmly, not daring to touch the food before he was told he was allowed to.

“Certainly trying to get Emil’s ass here. They’re close to each other, but they have so much difficulty to… you know… express emotions. When Lukas gently teases him, Emil screams harassment. They seem weird together.”

Tino’s gaze didn’t leave Mathias for some more seconds, unknowingly scrutinizing the man’s face. He quickly apologized and looked down at his plate. Gilbert came back to the kitchen and served himself. Mathias apologized for not offering to serve Tino and did right afterwards.

He ate calmly, doing small talks with the two other men, until Emil and Lukas appeared. A shiver came to Tino once they entered, it was frightening. Emil speechlessly sat down, waiting for Lukas to serve him. Lukas did as wordlessly demanded, served himself and sat down as well. The tense atmosphere was almost tangible.

Tino observed each one of them carefully. Gilbert became lost in the food, eating like there were no tomorrow. Emil was just playing with the spaghetti, not once putting a piece of it in his mouth. Mathias had his eyes fixed on Emil, worried, while Lukas’s right hand was moving beneath the table. Looking closer, Tino understood Lukas was toying with Mathias’ hand, squeezing it, playing between the fingers or holding it firmly.

He coughed violently at this, earning an odd gaze from Lukas, who did not even think of taking his hand off of Mathias’. They weren’t being discreet, and he wondered if something more than a deep friendship was between them. He began a discussion to try to prove his point:

“So, how long have you known each other now?”, his gaze was directed to Lukas.

“Thirty-four years”, Mathias answered happily. “We met back in kindergarten and never left each other. That'll be a lifelong friendship, right Lukie?”

Lukas just nodded, his mind certainly not there.

“And you Emil, how old are you?” Tino asked, all smiley.

“Twenty-three…” He answered reluctantly when Lukas glared at him somewhat angrily. Tino sure didn't miss that. Apparently, Lukas had a lot of control on his brother. Where were these boys’ parents?

Tino let it slip for some minutes, breaking the newfound silence once more.

“May I ask you a private question?”

“Go ahead,” Lukas answered, his eyes focused on nothing in particular in front of him.

“Where are your parents?”

“Dead, of course.” Lukas simply answered. “What did you expect?”, he turned his head to face Tino at this sentence.

“I was just asking. I’m sorry to hear that.”

Lukas shrugged a bit, not caring at all. His eyes eventually focused on the people eating with them. Mathias always earned rolled eyes, Emil a desperate but silent sigh and Gilbert, nothing. If this is all the family of my client, Tino thought, we are going nowhere… I have to have them opening up. The brothers especially. Gilbert and Mathias would help him.

* * *

Later in the day, Lukas and Mathias left, for jobs. Emil sat alone in the living room, watching a pointless cartoon. Tino was speaking with Gilbert about beer, but he excused himself for his other client. Gilbert seemed okay for now, he could handle some time alone, although he would have to think of something to make it up with the guy’s wife. Emil was something else, really…

Just as he headed for the boy, Emil left and went to his room. Tino followed from afar, a bit scared to frighten the boy.

Once Emil was in his room, Tino knocked and opened the door. “Emil, hello. Can I come in?”

“You… You’re already in.”

Emil was sat on his bed, next to a bag he was packing things in.

“I don’t take that as a no. How’s it been going since this morning?” Tino approached the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder, but it was jerked away by Emil who looked away.

“Fine, I guess…”

“You guess?” Are you ready to explain what happened this morning?”

“Why would I do that?”

“I just want to help.”

“You’re Peter’s babysitter, not my guardian angel.”

“Actually, you’d be surprised.”

“Of course”, the boy snarkily stated, far from amused. “I have to go anyway.”

“Oh, where?”

“I’ll meet some friends. Bye.”

Emil stood up and left, closing the door violently. He had taken his tablet, phone, and earphones with him, everything packed up in this bag of his. His laptop remained on the bed though, and Tino had no other choice but to open it. He had to know more about the boy. It was a question of happiness or misfortune, and that is exactly what his job was about.

Luckily, the house was half-empty, he wouldn’t be interrupted. Tino took the computer on his lap once sat on the bed and opened it carefully. The screen lit up. The locked screen asked for the password. Tino tried multiple combinations randomly, until he got tired. He snapped and the desktop instantly appeared.The wallpaper was a boy Emil’s age, brown shoulder-length hair and blackish eyes. He was in front of a whiteboard, in a classroom. Next to his head stand something written in a language Tino didn’t know, it looked like an Asian language. The boy himself seemed Asian, he clothing was also very stylish and looked like a boy of his time, with all the multimedia he could take on him.

Tino opened the main picture folder and found hundreds of photographies of either this boy or cities. There were approximately five thousand photos, Tino therefore just looked at the most recent ones. The wallpaper boy was intriguing, Tino mused to himself. He closed the picture folder and aimed for Skype. The software launched and on screen appeared Emil’s most recent conversation. The friend’s account was nicknamed and the profile picture was a busy city street, Tino had not idea who this person was.

He took the last messages and read them mentally:

“ _Me_ : so Leon, are you sure I can come tomorrow?

 _Leon_ : of course, the old man won't be there, I promise. You're, like, stressed for just a visit? We always do it Icey, no need to be so scared.

 _Me_ : if my brother ever finds out, I'm dead. It's like he's my father!

 _Leon_ : the old man isn't my father but acts like one too. I don't see what is bad. You look a lot like him moreover.

 _Me_ : are you joking?

 _Leon_ : nah, same eyes, same hair type, same stupid shyness… See what I mean?

 _Me_ : you're an idiot. I'll be over tomorrow, but for now stfu.”

Nothing else, then. Tino looked at the other messages, being mainly jokes and stories about the day.

“ _Leon_ : so, what have you done today? It’s been harder to meet lately, you sure you’re okay without me around?

 _Me_ : I don’t see what you mean.

 _Leon_ : the fact you hid behind me when I spoke to some friends. Even my siblings, idiot!

 _Me_ : pff, stop with that. I’m not that shy. You’re making things up. Don’t piss me off.

 _Leon_ : I bet you’re blushing right now.

 _Me_ : That’s because I hate you.”

Tino smiled at the sight of these discussions. They were all alike, nothing extraordinary happened in these boys’ life, but Tino was relieved to know Emil had friends. He was not alone!

Tino was content with what he just found. He closed the laptop and put it back on the bed, where it once had been. He stood up in the middle of the room and decided it really had to be tided. The room was not dirty per se, but it was in such a chaos…

Tino didn’t waste more time. He snapped a first time, taking the clothes off of the ground, washing them magically and ordering them in the different closets. Everything in the room, eventually, shone of both magic and cleanness. Tino sighed, exhausted by the little magic trick and snapped his fingers once more, vanishing from the room.

Right after he vanished into thin air, Gilbert entered the room, thinking he’d find Emil here. He just mouthed an “oh” of surprise seeing the room so cleaned, and happily went back to his gardening job.

 

 

Tino appeared between two trash bins. At least, he was sure no one noticed him, but there were better places to teleport to, honestly. His home was one of them. He walked out of the alleyway and tried to understand where exactly he appeared. He did want to teleport near Emil, but that did not tell him where the boy was. On the opposite side of the road was a park Emil could wander in. Tino almost exited his hiding place, but stopped as he heard Emil’s voice coming from out of the building. A door cracked open, and two boys, one of them Emil, went out of the house.

“Ah, Emil, it’s like, really cool you came today.”

“We speak everyday, but yeah, it’s cool I guess. Where do we go today?”

“You speak like if you hung out a lot. How about the park?”

“Shut up, now’s not time to be mean. You should be glad I offer you my company.”

“I’m just kidding, relax. You’re allowed to stay alone at home with your dearest brother and his best friend you’re in love with. Nobody’s judging.”

“In love? With Mathias? Pff, he’s the least of my concern.”

“I know you used to love him. Who is it now?”

“You’re not knowing today.”

“What a spoilsport.” He paused and looked up at Emil with a genuine smile. “Let’s go to the park.”

“You mean that place where kids from school scream and run around?”

“You got a problem with kids?”

“I don’t like when my fun’s being spoiled by children.”

“So you admit we’ll be having fun! And, according to your brother, you were an adorable kid.”

“Shut up about that! You looked as ridiculous as me!”

“Never said you were ridiculous. And when it comes to me as a child, you can’t find cuter. You know it, don’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah...”

Tino was about to follow them as they left but heard a man passing by who asked him for the time. It was past four.

Tino was lucky this guy came around, but his face still visibly whitened. Peter. He forgot about him!

He could not be fired his first day, his clients had to be helped somehow, and he needs the proximity he acquired thanks to the job to aid them the best he could.

He asked the same man for the direction of the school and began to run like crazy. Three seconds after his departure, he had already forgotten the indications the man gave him, hence why he looked at every panel he saw to reach the school.

Eventually, he came in front of the school. There were German flags floating on the front portal. He put out of his pocket the picture of the boy Lukas gave him. A fair-headed boy, with a radiant smile and a sailor-like teeshirt. He looked up from the picture and found exactly the boy he was looking for… crying and sobbing quietly on the ground, holding his wounded knees in a vain attempt to stop the pain.

A woman approached the boy before he could and asked him his name; he answered “Peter” with a huge sob afterwards.

Tino urged towards the boy and told the woman he’d take care of him. She was not really tall, but still taller than him. And Tino saw how fit and perhaps muscular she was (or could be?) under her clothes. She was not someone to mess with, and Tino happened to fall in the category of “dangerous men trying to harm a child”.

“Who are you?” she demanded, almost barked.

“His new babysitter. Name’s Tino.” He calmly answered to hide his true feelings: fear. “Hi Peter… Let’s get you home, will you? We have to cover these bruises, right?”

“Wait! Do you know at least who his parents are?” The woman asked again, really worried.

“His dad is on a business trip. He lives with his uncles and a guy named Gilbert is also there. It’s not far from here, the house has a charming exterior. Uncles are Mathias, Lukas and Emil. Is that enough proof for you, ma’am?”

“Yes, sorry. I am Elizabetha.”

“Elizabetha? Are you… Gilbert’s wife?”

She nodded nonchalantly, but quickly pulled herself back together, hearing another sob from Peter.

“You should get him home.”

Her tone was calm, but it was clear she wanted nothing to do with Tino, as if Gilbert’s acquaintance was not worth her time. Oh boy was she wrong. Back to the topic, Peter’s wounds were bleeding more and more profusely and Tino kind of wanted to panic, but after a collected breath, he discreetly snapped his fingers, covering simultaneously the wound with his own hand to make it look like a magic trick. He also had a bandaid appear in his hand to cover the knee, so it wouldn’t look _too_ suspicious.

“Are you okay now, little one?” Tino inquired with a caring smile. “You’re Peter, right?”

“Yes...” the child answered. He swept the tears off of his face with his arm and tried to take his composure back. He then turned to Tino to ask him his name.

“I’m Tino. You heard about me? Lukas told you I’d be you’re new babysitter?”

“Yes!” he answered cheerfully. “So you’re Tino? Thanks for my wound, that’s crazy it didn’t even sting! It doesn’t hurt anymore!”

“All is right, then, isn’t it? Can you walk?”

Peter nodded and smiled brightly. He seemed really overjoyed to meet Tino and the angel saw he was eager to ask many questions but did not dare to, perhaps because of shyness.

“What do you want to do, right now. Go the park or head home?” Tino asked, kneeling next to the boy.

“The park!” he exclaimed. “I wanna go to the park!”

“Okay then, let’s go.”

They walked silently, wordlessly, following the colored panel to reach the park. Tino eventually couldn’t bear the silence anymore and asked Peter some questions about his life, his friends, videogames, things a kid would want to speak about.

After some discussion, Peter stopped talking and didn’t move his head to talk, fixing the skyline in front of him. He then let a small sigh escape his lips and said gently:

“You’re so cool. I’m sure Papa would like you!”

“My, thank you. Do you know when he’s coming back?”

“In… some months, from what he told me. Pretty cool, huh? I wanna do like my father when I’ll be a grownup.

“You mean following each word your boss says and attend boring meetings?”

“Oh… I never thought of this side. I’ll find something else, then.”

As he said this, he spotted the park in the distance and asked if they could hurry up as to reach it sooner. Tino just laughed calmly and tried to keep up with Peter’s pace who began to run. Tino allowed it because there was no road around them. Peter waited for him, as he got there first.

“Can I go play?” He joyfully asked.

“Yes, of course. I’ll be around here, don’t worry, I’ll be looking you.”

Tino just smiled and waved as Peter ran off to meet some friends. The kid was really cute and nice for now, it was pleasing to know he wouldn’t have to deal with an uneducated swine. This boy was just… nice. Peter jumped of a bench to land in the sand of the playground. Tino gasped loudly as he fell face first on the ground, but the kid merely rubbed his hands and went back to his running activity.

The caring angel he was sensed Emil near him. Perfect, he could see how worked the relationship between Emil and this friend of his. He looked around a bit and notice the two teens sat between two trees, hidden by the leaves. Tino approached silently, watching every move they made with a vivid attention. His eyes drifted to Peter to make sure he wasn’t agonizing because of a stupid mistake or if he was hurting himself or other, and when he made sure everything was okay, his head went back to the lovebirds. Were they… in love?

Tino could not tell. He snapped his fingers to magically eavesdrop on the boys. He could hear their voices perfectly, as if they were next to him.

“You know how I feel about this, Leon. My brother would kill me, you know that!”

“Nonsense! He loves you too much to harm you.”

“This is… weirdly true, I admit. But he would make my life a living hell! He just… wouldn’t understand, nor would he accept it.”

“You can’t know if you don’t try.”

“His wrath terrifies me!” Emil said emotionally. “It’s not worth the risk. I can’t ask. I prefer it to stay silent.”

“That seems like something a child would say about his father.”

“Ugh… You always know how to be annoying.”

“And if I pop in just to make everything, like, crystal clear? I come, kiss you, perhaps more if they’re too astonished and I take my things and leave!”

Emil took his book and slapped Leon with it, the boy laughing. He was red from embarrassment next to a boy who gave no fuck. Emil just stood up and left, therefore giving an end to their little meeting.

Before he could be spotted and possibly killed by Emil, Tino left quickly and went back to Peter, telling him it was time they go home. The boy reluctantly followed, bidding goodbye to his friends and taking Tino’s hand in his, leaving the playground to his friends.

Tino kept an eye on Emil in the distance and told Peter he had some errands to do before going home so he could cross the boy’s way. He had to trust it was randomness, not Tino willingly and knowingly pestering him.

“Oh, Emil!” Tino cheered for the boy to lift his head up from his phone. “Nice to see you here. What are you up to?”

“Huh… Just meeting some… friends...” He quickly went back to his phone, almost ready to storm off.

“His _boy_ friend.” Peter highlighted with a grin.

“I thought I told you brat to stop spreading this kind of bullshit, you hear me?” Emil harshly snapped.

“Cannot! You should ask Tino for your love problems, look, he healed my knee with awesome bandaids!”

“Yeah, you just spent too much time with Gilbert if you ask me.”

And with this, he left angrily, passing them to almost jog away. Tino just smiled blissfully.

“What is this boyfriend thing?” Tino asked Peter who instantly jumped in front of him, arms agitated to explain the whole story.

“Well, you see, Emil and Leon are friends since kindergarten where they met, and now they’re a couple.”

“I see, but what’s the problem?”

“Emil is afraid Lukas will forbid him to see his lover.”

“Why would Lukas do such a thing?”

“He’s an overprotective big brother and Emil thinks he’s homophobic.”

“Wow little one, you know a lot about this situation. May I ask how?”

“I read Emil’s diary.”

Tino was disappointed. “Wouldn’t your father scold you for this?”

“He would, but… I have a mission for my family. I want to help them, and it’s my mission, yes! If I help Emil, Lukas would be relaxed and all the tension would… vanish. Yes, vanish!”

“My, my, Peter. Here’s a noble mission if you ask. You know what, I even think I’ll help you. Do you accept?”

“Of course! You’re a grownup, they will listen to you more!”

Tino laughed a bit, but deep down, he knew the kid was right. He could see the world with fresh an innocent eyes and he seemed to want the best for his family. Tino and him walked home, Peter showing him the way.

Once they arrived, Peter opened the door and went directly for Gilbert. Lukas and Mathias were not back, neither was Emil. Gilbert, however, was here. And glaring at… a turned off TV…

“Gil? What are you doing? There’s nothing on TV!” Peter exclaimed.

“Huh? Ah yeah, I know. Good to see you kiddo. I was just thinking.” He ruffled Peter’s hair who just laughed.

“Wanna play with me?”

“I’m… no, sorry, I have things to do.”

Peter pouted. He ran back to Tino to express his feelings. He spoke with such a tempo and rapid rhythm that Tino had to tell him to sit down before continuing.

“What do you want to tell me?” the angel simply asked.

They were sat in the kitchen, far away from Gilbert who headed back to the garden.

“Gilbert, he’s… he’s sad again. Because of Elizabetha!”

“Can you tell me more about her?”

“Yes, of course! See, she was in highschool with Roderich, her ex-husband and Gilbert. They were in the same class, the three of them. Roderic was Elizabetha’s boyfriend and they married like, some years after university for the both of them. Gilbert was friend with them, of course, because Elizabetha is his childhood best friend. Then, he introduced them to another of best friend’s family, the Vargas, because they were apparently super nice! And the couple became the babysitters for the youngest son, and it made Gilbert really jealous that they’d behave like a family with him. When the boy was old enough to take care of himself, Roderich and Eliza discovered that he was the only thing liking them to one another. They weren’t in love anymore, or at least, Elizabetha wasn’t. So they divorced. Gil took the opportunity to flirt with her! And after some time, they married. She’s the one wearing the pants at home and he often does hooeys, so she often scolds him. She’s nice, though, I like her! I think she likes me too, see how she was with me at school? I spent one night at their house one day and it was really great, although they tend to fight a lot. I guess this time, it was a bigger fight.”

Tino breathed deeply. This poor boy, not even twelve and already partaking in all this mischief.

“You… really know a lot.” was all Tino could mutter.

“I overhear a lot.”

“That may not be the entire truth”, Tino chuckled.

Peter paused before answering. He seemed suddenly overrun with sadness and Tino felt bad he was the one who caused it.

“It’s just… I want to help Papa. He doesn’t want to live here that’s obvious! That’s why he chooses the longest trips, so he can get away! I’m trying to make everyone friends so it’s easier here, and so Papa comes back! If Emil stops being all angsty like Mathias says, then Lukas will stop being so tensed up! If Eliza and Gil make up, no more fight and no more squatting! And Papa would come back. I’m sure he would. With my brother!”

“You have a brother?”

“Yes. He’s with Papa on his trip.”

“You really are a courageous boy, Peter. I’m sure you’ve already helped a lot around here. That’s even perhaps thanks to you that they’re still living under the same roof.”

“I’d rather say ‘because of you’. I’m sure I’m the only reason they don’t part away.”

“That’s nothing like it.” Tino reassured the boy, remembering Lukas playing with Mathias’ fingers under the dining table.

“How do you know? You’re a psychic or something? Because that would help a lot!”

“No, I’m not a psychic. You want to know? Alright… I’m an angel. I was sent to help your family.”

Peter seemed to hesitate before answering, but a glance at Tino’s soft smile made him explode of joy.

“That’s so cool! Thank you, I’m sure we’ll sort things out together!”

“That’s a promise, Peter. But in exchange, we have to keep everything secret! If they know we’re up to something, they’ll certainly be worse than before!”

Peter nodded and was about to say something else, but Gilbert entered the kitchen to get a drink. Peter jumped in his arms and hugged him dearly.

‘Giiiil! Are you gonna speak to Eliza again?”

“Ah? Don’t like the awesome me here kiddo?”

“Of course I do, but the garden is so clean we could directly eat on the grass! You should apologize to her!”

Gilbert put him down and sighed, hesitantly grabbing his phone and dialing a number as slowly as possible. He stared at Peter some seconds before a voice boomed in the phone.

Peter beamed and came to Tino with a playful grin.

“I think I’ll be a guardian angel later. Look, I’ve done a great job!”

“You are truly marvelous” Tino said back. “You’d be a wonderful angel, dear.”

Peter then yawned and went to his room, perhaps to nap, perhaps to play, Tino did not know. The angel walked to the living room where Gilbert was sat on the black couch, listening to each and every world he heard coming out of the phone.

His whitish face was colored red, he was on the verge of tears. Once he hung up, he looked at Tino.

“So, what happened?” the angel asked. “Did love find its way?”

“More than that,” Gilbert answered truthfully. “Don’t expect me for dinner, I’ll be begging at someone’s feet!”

Tino laughed and congratulated him somehow. His mission didn’t seem that hard for now. It seemed to go along pretty well.

He then went to Peter’s room to play some games with him. Emil, Lukas and Mathias eventually came back, and they ate dinner together, silently, before finally slipping into bed.

 

Tino, in his pajamas and half asleep, was having a hard time breathing. Something hard was on his chest. No. _In_ his chest.

He never foreshadowed the future, he didn’t like it, but something weird was going to happen; his blood was boiling throughout his body, and his night was rough. Tomorrow was another day, with other problems that came with. A secret-revealing day.

Yet, Tino had a rejoicing sigh as he finally slipped into a dreamless slumber.


	2. Angels have to risk it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back baby, and I hope you're gonna like it.

Tino woke up along with the alarm clock he had set up before going to sleep. He hit the clock with the palm of his hand, in the vain hope of shutting it down, but had to open his eyes to aim precisely for the button.

He stepped out of his bed and yawned. Another day of work, damn. He was eager to go on vacations, they seemed to distance themselves at each mission he fulfilled.

He actually whispered this out loud, looking at the ceiling, trying to give the Upthere a hint. Um, well, they only heard what they wanted to hear up there, so it’s a vain attempt. A knock on his door and snapped him back to reality with tired eyes and sleepy movements.

“Tinoooo! I’m awake and hungry!” Peter screamed from the corridor. “Come down, pleaaase!”

“I… I’ll be right there”, Tino sighed.

He snapped to dress up properly as quickly as possible and opened the door. He saw Peter, still in his blue pajamas knocking at Emil’s door and telling him to wake up as well. Then, Peter climbed down the stairs without noticing Tino. The angel walked to Emil’s bedroom and knocked as well, using a softer way of waking Emil up.

“Emil, dear. We’ll be waiting for you for breakfast. If you need anything, tell me.”

And so he left. He reached the kitchen downstairs and greeted Peter, then asked him what type of breakfast he wanted. Well, Peter asked for  _rosette_ and butter only, so Tino looked throughout the entire kitchen to find a knife, a plate, a glass and the food Peter wanted, along with bread.

When everything was settled, Tino just munched on a chocolate bar he randomly took in the kitchen. He wasn’t feeling very hungry and genuinely wanted to appreciate the calm of the morning. Even when Emil came down to eat some cereals, the silent went undisturbed and tranquility remained.

He decided to give a look at the kitchen, his curious gaze observing everything. It was modern and properly ordered. It was connected to the dining room with a door and an opening next to the workplan, allowing the cook to speak with his guests. On the fridge were stuck drawings of children, but also class pictures of said children. One of them was Peter, the other, certainly his brother. This brother was a redhead with blue eyes, with many freckles making his face shine like a starry sky. He looked younger, perhaps eight. One could also see a picture of a young Emil, striking a pose with his handmade  _Schultüte_ . There were similar photos for the other boys, but their quality was much higher.

Until, eventually, Tino got bored of it. He had things to know to resolve the problems of this family. So he began to ask questions to the boys, having their breakfast in the dining room; while still being in the kitchen, thanks to this opening in the wall.

“What do Lukas and Matthias for a living?”

“Mathias is a baker” Peter muttered while eating; without lifting his face from his plate. “Lukas works at the university nearby as a teacher.”

“Mathias works for Eliza” Emil begrudgingly said.

“Oh? Eliza owns a bakery?”

“She owns several of them” Emil continued.”She’s rich. The richest person I know anyway.”

“That’s true” Peter approved. “When I went at her place, it was so nicely decorated! I didn’t dare touch nothing.”

“Really? I wouldn’t have thought. She obtained this fortune by herself?”

“Yup. _Eine Selfmadewoman, oder_? That’s surprising someone like Gil managed to marry her.”

“That’s always what you and Lukas repeat” Peter accused. “Stop being mean to Gil, they love each other a lot since their childhood, of course it’s logical they’re married today!”

Emil didn’t answer any further and finished his breakfast. He went for his room and exited some minutes afterwards, leaving the place to reach his school. Meanwhile, Peter had gotten ready and Tino had cleaned the table. Once the angel had made sure everything was in order, they left for the school and discussed on their way.

Tino had some leads already concerning the problems of this family. Well, those were not exactly leads but he had suspicions he had to investigate over.

First of all, Emil and Lukas’ relationship. Those brothers were weird when interacting. Tino noticed how stiffed and stressed out Emil was in presence of his older brother. And Lukas seemed… omnipresent in Emil’s life. The only times the boy got for himself was spent outside the house, and after giving it some thought, it was completely understandable. There had to be something that led to this much control from Lukas over Emil’s life, and he had to know it. Emil was already twenty three, This was what made the atmosphere in this household sometimes unbearable.

Second of all, he had to understand what was Berwald doing away exactly. This man was shrouded in mystery and his case was really suspicious. The man had been gone for several months now, leaving only one of his sons behind? Impossible. No intelligent father would leave one son behind. Even if said son stayed with friends, something was off. Why had he taken the youngest, so the less autonomous of the two,  for instance ?

“How is your father exactly? Tell me more about him.”

“Oh? Why do you want to know?”

“I feel like it. Don’t tell me if you don’t want to, love.”

“No, that’s okay! Papa is a tall man. He’s… really tall. Taller than Mathias. He’s blond and has blue eyes, like me. His hair is cut short. He has glasses because he’s shortsighted. He likes… um… ice-skating. We do that a lot in our family! And he likes handwork too. You know, he used to create furniture for us. He’s really good with his hands, he can craft anything, I think… He liked to make wooden toys for my brother and me, like soldiers but he even made dolls. That’s an incredible talent, don’t you think?”

“I see this… I have a question, though. Would you answer?”

“Of course Tino, stop being weird about this! You said you were our guardian angel, you have to know everything!”

“That’s wise of you” Tino concluded with a smile. “I’d like to know… Has your father ever tried to contact you?”

“Once. He sent me a letter, Lukas gave it to me. It was three months ago. But since that, nothing.”

“I have another risky question. You agree?”

“Tell it!”

“Your mother, where is she?”

Peter remained quiet for some seconds. He pouted with an air of melancholy and at one point, Tino regretted he asked. The little one could feel offended and shut himself away…

“I’ve been adopted,” Peter said. “I don’t know who are my biological parents. I only got papa, but that’s okay.”

“Is your brother adopted too?”

“Nah, he’s papa’s biological son. He doesn’t know his mom either, but he says he doesn’t care.”

“You think he really doesn’t care?”

“I don’t know.”

Tino stayed silent. He couldn’t have a comeback for everything, so he just remained quiet and walked peacefully, slowing down when his pace was too much for Peter. The path to the school was not really long but Peter seemed to take a liking in walking slowly. Strange, for a boy this talkative and expressive. And who loved to run. And speak. Did I mention speak? The reason was perhaps those emotional conversations, Tino regretted once again he had asked.

They walked in peace for some minutes and, of course, it did not last. They crashed into a boy and Peter went nuts again. Oh well, nothing lasts forever, especially not quietness.

“Marcello!” Peter’s high-pitched voice screamed. “I’m so glad to see you!”

Peter launched himself on the boy, visibly older, and hugged him strongly.

The boy was a brunet with ginger tones, pretty tall but still seemingly young. He had light brown eyes, close to gold, which were almost covered by a curl of his. His face was roundish, bubble-like. He had this weird air of… ignorance? around him. His face was also contorted in a smile that seemed a bit forced at this time, but Tino couldn’t be certain. He was pushed backwards by Peter’s jump but managed to catch him in his arms, laughing.

He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and seemed very laid back, with a natural lenience.

“Peter! It’s been a long time! Oh my gosh I remember you being way smaller last time we met, Petey...”

“Ugh don’t call me that you clumsy oaf. I’m so glad I can see you again! Why did you go for college? You’re too much of a dummy for that!”

“Hey, that’s how it is, don’t scold _me_. If it were for me I wouldn’t work either, but _Nonno_ isn’t… that kind of man… yeah...”

Peter finally let go of the boy and just stood there, laughing and smiling brightly without a reason. His happiness was so genuine he radiated of “good vibes”. Tino was surprised. The last person he saw radiating that much was… Well, another angel, in an apprenticeship. It was years ago… The humans with the purest of hearts don’t radiate with such an energy.

Tino neared the young man with a confident walk he was known for.

“Hello.” Tino introduced himself. “I’m Tino. I’m Peter’s babysitter.”

“Glad to meet you” the boy answered. He seemed pretty eloquent and had a charismatic aura. Tino could feel it. “My name’s Marcello. I’m Peter’s best friend.”

He approached Tino who, instinctively, raised his hand for him to shake it, but was taken by surprise when Marcello nonchalantly kissed him on both cheeks.

“Best friend? How old are you?” Tino joked, embarrassed.

“Oh, I’m nineteen. I know Peter since he’s a baby, I’ve always known him. Okay, I’m sorry guys but I gotta go to school right now. If I’m late again, _Nonno_ ’s gonna kill me. Sorry, Peter, really. I promise I’ll come see you someday soon.”

Marcello knelt down, released Peter and kissed him goodbye on each cheek. He did the same unexpectedly to Tino who, a bit confused, just went with it. The “clumsy oaf” ran off and disappeared in the left corner of the street.

Tino just looked at Peter gravely, a bit surprised. He titled his head to the left, waiting for an answer to his unasked question.

“Oh, he comes from Italy. Or France? Both I think. That’s how they tell each other goodbye there between family members. He already adopted you, see?”

“Really…? That’s a bit… proximate.”

“Well, he’s a Vargas. That’s just how they are.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s just that… they special, around here. The Vargas family are always being noticed because they stand out so much. I know them thanks to uncle Gil.”

“Ah, and how did he meet them?”

“Um, you see… This is a really long story! Gilbert told me everything and it’s so marvelous! It goes like this: when uncle Gilbert was young, he lived in another country with his grandfather. And when his grandpa died, he had to go on a quest to find the Vargas family, because he actually lived with a Vargas his grandfather had adopted! So they went on a journey in all Germany to find them, and they did. They found Marco, the lead of the family at the time. Marco welcomed home his grandson, the Vargas who traveled with Gilbert, and sent Gilbert to his aunt, whom he happened to know thanks to a letter from Gilbert’s grandpa. You follow me?”

“I… think? That’s a really quick summary for such a story.”

“So Gilbert and his brother, who had also traveled with him, lived with their aunt for a while. This aunt had a child, and it was Uncle Mathias! Marco visited a lot to see how were the children who had brought back his grandson and expressed his will to help them in their future life, because Marco’s really nice, yeah… So he brought his son and grandsons with him and his son became best friend with Gilbert! His name is Francis, and they’re still friends nowadays, I think… The grandsons are Lov… Lov-something, Feliciano and Marcello! Feliciano and Marcello are friends with Gilbert too, you know!”

“Wow, kiddo… That’s… wow. How can you even remember this much?”

“I know, right? Family gatherings are always hard because we spend them all together. Mathias invites Gilbert and Eliza, then they invite Roderich and the Vargas and Francis invites Antonio, his halfbrother. So Marco comes as well, of course, and he has fun too although he’s the oldest. That’s like… fourteen people already. So we always go to Marco’s house, because it’s the biggest.”

“So those Vargas are tactile _and_ partygoers?”

“You’re kidding me, that’s totally their thing! Well, sans Lov… Lovi, yeah. He just doesn’t like noise and people, but the others are always ready to party. I love them so much, I can’t imagine what it’d be like without them here. We’d get bored easily.”

Tino sighed. Fortunately, they had reached the school and he didn’t have to suffer Peter anymore. The boy was a delight, of course, but what he just witnessed tired him out. Wait, no, it wasn’t tiredness. Tino had to admit that Peter’s stories brought back unwanted blurry memories. Something clicked in him each time Peter spoke up about his family  and it was oddly painful.

The thing was, Tino couldn’t even pinpoint what was wrong with him. Just a feeling of eeriness which creeped the fuck out of him. It was confusing and extremely embarrassing. He had felt, during Peter’s entire story, a sensation of déjà-vu which did not help him get at ease.

Peter waved at Tino and with a loud voice, bade him goodbye, running to his classroom. Tino replied as smilingly as possible and waved as long as Peter did. When they finally parted, Tino had another sigh. He was already tired of his day.

He had learned many things. Notably, three families were involved. The Vargas, Emil’s family and Gilbert’s. The Vargas were Italians (or French?) who got reunited in the past and are deeply related to the Beilschmidt for the mutual help they gave to one another. They are linked because of Francis’ relationship to Gilbert, but also because, like Peter told him already, Elizabetha used to babysit the youngest Vargas with Roderich. Lastly, Emil’s family is blood-related to the Beilschmidt and Mathias grew up with them and are still, nowadays, connected to each other through jobs and marriage.

This meant lots of problems through these families and Tino could already feel the tensions between them.

Oh well. Tino was hopeful. Although sometimes tired of all this mess, he was hopeful. He had to be. Depressed angels are dead angels.

After making sure he was hidden between two closed streets and unseen, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.

* * *

He was not really sure where he wanted to land and had to options: Emil’s college or Lukas’ bedroom. After some reflection, he preferred Lukas’ bedroom. He had to know what was going on between him and Mathias and perhaps a little bonus if he could find anything in his closet or such.

The bedroom appeared before his eyes and he caught a glimpse of the decoration. It was neat and satisfying to see such an ordered room. It looked like an IKEA advertisement, Tino though to himself. All colors were pale and cold and it fitted the man correctly. It was not big, of course not, it couldn’t be in such a smallish household.

In the middle of the room was a double bed whose covers were so tight it seemed overwhelming to tuck oneself under them. On each side of the bed were high closets which were linked to one another above the bed. The highest lockers were not easily accessible and it made them worthless, but Tino wondered what lay inside those.

He couldn’t help it. He snapped his fingers and hovered above the ground until he reached those lockers. He opened them quickly and took a look at the insides. In the first one were clothes. Old clothes, which seemed expensive. Tino unfolded some of them and saw they belonged to a kid, perhaps even to Lukas when he was younger, is all. In the locker next to this one were dresses. They looked like traditional dresses and Tino didn’t question it further. What was in the third locker caught his attention.

Inside this one was a wooden box. Tino took it out and went down to the ground, sitting on the carefully laid sheets of the bed. His heart was pounding like crazy for no reason. This box didn’t have this scent of oldness these clothes and dresses bore with them. It definitely was something recent, and it was perhaps exactly what he needed to resolve the first mystery.

As he opened the box slowly, he found a pile of paper. He took it out and put them on the bed, taking the first sheet he found, reading what was written on it:

„ _Eine reiche norwegische Familie hat letzte Nacht den Tod gefunden. Die Eltern wurden ermordert und die Kinder sind verschwunden. Der Ältere ist sechzehn und der Jüngere ist nur zwei. Beide sind blondhaarig und blauäugig. Wenn Sie diese Kinder finden, können sie die Polizei anrufen um sie zu schützen._

_Nach der Polizei ist der Attentat eine Rache eines alten Feinds der Familie, der nach dem Tod aller Mitglieder sucht.“_

It was an extract from a newspaper, apparently. The yellow sheet had been carefully cut and wasn’t stained by any odd liquid. Globally, the text was about a rich Norwegian family which has been attacked. The family’s empire collapsed along with the parents, found dead. The children ran away and whole Norway looks after them, to be able to protect them from the assassins of their parents.

Tino continued to read the insignificant details until he lay his gaze on the names of the children, and his heart missed a pulse.

„ _Lukas und Emil Bondevik wurden verfolgt.“_

Lukas and Emil Bondevik are wanted.

So Lukas and Emil were the offspring of a rich Norwegian dynasty? And their parents had been assassinated out of revenge by an old friend of the family…

Well, that’s what’s written in the text.

So Tino was kind of lost. There was a big problem in this story. His mission order stipulated he had under his wings “Emil Køhler”, Emil himself had said his name was “Emil Steilsson”, and there, on the paper, it was “Emil Bondevik”. What was his real name?

Tino took random sheets and scanned them quickly, looking for answers to his questions, but none had great importance to him. Then, he fell on identity papers… Norwagian. They weren’t German. This could help him.

Two cards fell in his hand. One showed a preteen, a “Lukas Bondevik”. The picture seemed old, but Tino couldn’t spot many differences between a sixteen-year-old Lukas, or the current Lukas. If he trusted the birthdate indicated, he was thirty-seven today, and the main difference was perhaps the plumpness of his cheeks, which deteriorated with time. The cheeks of the current Lukas weren’t as chubby, and even if they weren’t emaciated, it seems like they will be, later. Old, he’d certainly have the cheeks thin, with his always dreamy gaze and yet so focused.

This other card showed a child, really young. Around one year, perhaps two. Few hair grew on this skull, his capillary density was so low that some clearer spots showed his scalp, milk-colored. The eyes of the child were bluish, with spots of… exotic colors. “Emil Bondevik”. Looking at the birthdate, he was twenty-three, today. The Emil Tino was taking care of was also twenty-three and a brother named Lukas… Of course they were the same people, coincidence doesn’t exist for the Upthere.

On the cards were stamped the inscriptions “Norge” and “Noreg”. Tino chewed on his upper lip, perturbed by his discovery.

He snapped and in his hands appeared another card, this one current. Lukas’ ID, or  _sein Personalausweis_ . And it was written on it “Lukas Køhler”.

Tino had a sudden doubt. A sign from up there, certainly. He opened his own bag, which he constantly kept by his sides, and looked inside for important documents. He took out of it a pile of disorganized papers, but ended up finding what he wanted. It was his employment agreement as a babysitter. He inspected the page, searching for a particular family name. At the end of the page, he found the names, and the answer to his sudden doubt. “Mathias & Lukas Køhler”.  So Køhler was actually Mathias’ name, as he had thought.

They were wearing the same family name. But how? Had Lukas been adopted by a Køhler during his youth? Or the papers had been falsified to preserve the Bondeviks’ identity… The only reason to this change in family name was escaping from the assassins who ended early the Bondeviks’ parents. So Lukas went to Germany directly after his parents’ assassination with a baby… To survive, he erased all traces of his past and found a new life in another country… With his best friend. And with a new identity.

Well, these assumptions were charming, but what to do with them now? Tino couldn’t blame Lukas for wanting to live on and escape from assassins, and certainly couldn’t blame him for protecting his brother…

Tino racked his brain. He needed more clues, but also wanted to keep inspecting Lukas’ room. Although he was wanted by assassins, he still had a weird behavior towards his younger brother, and Emil had all the symptoms of a maltreated child, although he wasn’t a child nor had any mark of violence on his skin.

His psychological state was worrying.

Tino sighed. He was fed up with mysteries was going to make Emil speak. He was perhaps at college, but that wouldn’t stop Tino. Another time, then, he snapped. Lukas’ bedroom cleaned itself magically and his body vanished in the air in a sparkly dust.

* * *

Emil’s school was in a state of effervescence. Students were leaving the main edifice en masse. The stream of students ran out after some minutes, allowing Tino to finally enter. He had observed each passing student in the hope of finding his client, but Emil wasn’t part of them. He just had to be inside, then.

In the wide entrance, the sunlight came by high windows which allowed to see the inside yard. This yard was vast enough to welcome the majority of students, and one could access to the rest of the campus thanks to a walkway protected by two tower-like buildings. In the yard sat Emil, whom Tino saw next to the famous Leon. Sat next to one of the few trees, they were both eating a mere imitation of a sandwich, discussing between bites.

Tino would feel bad if he had to interrupt such a moment… not really. He needed Leon away to speak with Emil, so he snapped, and the boy’s phone rang. Right before snapping his fingers, he couldn’t help but apologize out loud. He was such a manipulative angel…

As Leon excused himself to answer, and Tino took the opportunity. He ran in direction of the door leading to the yard and walked to Emil. He called him out with enthusiasm, but this proved to scare the lone boy who, instinctively, jumped on his two feet. He had let go of his snack which fell in its blue box, yet his fists were clenched and put forward, as if ready to strike, or rather, defend himself.

“Calm down, hey, I’m not here to bully you or anything.”

“Tino… What the hell are you doing here?” Emil asked, his facial muscles visibly relaxing. “What do you want from me?”

“Calm down, I tell you. I just want one answer to one question. Please, just this, and then, I’ll leave you alone forever. It’s a promise!”

“Hadn’t you promised this to me already for something else?”

“Uhm… I can’t tell anymore. Well, please, just a smallish small question...”

“… Go ahead...”

“Your attacker… had he one distinctive sign, something he shared with everyone who’ve attacked you already?”

Emil passed a hand in his white hair. He took a deep breath, hesitated for some seconds, but finally spoke up:

“If I remember well, it was something like a tattoo. Same form, a black thing which looked like a bird. It was small and it wasn’t always on the same body part. Here, you happy? Can you get out now?”

“What I don’t understand is why the police never found them.”

“I don’t know why they’re not caught yet, okay? All I want Is tranquility, far away from you!”

Emil quickly packed his stuff and looked pretty agitated. He was looking all around himself, certainly for Leon, but it seemed like his boyfriend went really far away.

Don’t bite the hand which feeds you, would have liked to answer Tino, had he been in the mood of upsetting Emil, but he truly deserved the tranquility he demanded. Tino just managed an innocent smile, while he headed for the exact opposite direction of the exit (so Emil was forced to show him the way), and once he exited the college, he opted for a walk.

A walk as long as he was allowed to, that means only some minutes, before going back to the matter at hand. That’s what he hated in this type of missions: he was given few clients, but in the end, he had under his wings the whole family, even more.

He didn’t really have to complain, he loved humans so much that it would be betraying what he deeply believed in, but sometimes… just sometimes, he hated the humans’ naivete or stupidity, while also persuaded it was what he loved the most in them. Otherwise, what would his job be interesting for?

In conclusion, being the most lucid was both satisfying and extremely frustrating.

Just thinking about it, Tino, ironically enough, grew wings. He had a way of loving humans which was… very much personal. The angelic love directed to the humans is supposed to be the purest, without any passion nor excessiveness. Tino knew he didn’t fully respect the rule, he had already been blamed of having a “heart of fire”, but it was only an advantage in his eyes. In spite of the ridiculous sting he felt in his heart when leaving his clients, his powerful emotions helped him take the situation at heart, and he could still reflect rationally, to take care of problems with dexterity and compassion.

After all, he was the best angel of the world, that’s why the Upthere ignored his feelings, as without him, the world would have been torn to pieces four times… no, five.

Tino would have loved to go on in his walk, but felt like he was needed somewhere else, and this sort of intuition was not to be pushed aside. Something must be wrong with one of his clients, so he snapped his fingers. It was a really short pause… well, if that’s his idea of a pause, it meant he  _absolutely_ needed vacation.

* * *

He reappeared in front of a house with the looks of a mansion. Spacious, white, with a magically decorated garden and as big as the owner’s wealth. Tino went for the portal, greenish, and was ready to use the electric doorbell before seeing, through the window, a man getting angry at furniture. Looking closely, he observed Gilbert violently hit a silky pillow.

He didn’t need any other sign. He snapped and the portal opened with a boisterous sound. He passed it, closed it behind him, and discreetly walked to another window, where he had less chances of being spotted. Nobody seemed to wander in the garden, fortunately. Tino hid between a lawnmower and a neatly cut bush and raised his head to look at the scene. A new snap allowed him to hear as well, and this technique of unsuspected voyeurism was often handy.

The action was blurry. A man, not really tall, with glasses and the style of an aristocrat, was standing rigidly. He had his hands in his back. His face expressed an intense disgust. He was wearing a blue jacket and dark blue pants which were neatly ironed, he had for shoes really serious-looking black boots. The cravat which surrounded his neck was tight and as dark as his facial expression. He had only one beauty mark near his mouth, which augmented the roughness and severity of his traits.

His eyes were focused on another man, whom Tino knew more. Gilbert, dressed in a shiny yellow shirt and black pants, was getting mad at furniture. He regularly passed an angry hand through his glowing white hair, clenched his fists as if ready to hit and had the jaw so clenched that it seemed to hurt. All his body pulsed to the rhythm of his heartbeat, as if he were taken away by an ELAN of adrenalin with each pulsation.

Between the two men was a woman, smaller. She had long brown hair which reached the bottom of her back. Two bangs outlined her grave face. Her light brown eyes remained hard against the two men standing next to her. She was standing with her head high, slender and radiating with power. One could see at first glance that she was the one deciding, and none of the men around her dared contradict her. They didn’t approach her and yet, seemed very attracted to her.

She inspired respect and obedience, which gave Tino the chills when she turned her head around abruptly in his direction, but she only cared for Gilbert, and hadn’t seen him. Well, he hoped.

“Gilbert”, she pronounced cold-voiced. “I forbid such a language here. Could we know what is having you so emotional nowadays? You hounded him as if you were afraid. What is your problem?”

“You know, Eliza, don’t play dumb with me!”

“You speak with another tone to me as well”, she added while approaching him dangerously. She seemed ready to attack. “Tell me why you cannot stop attacking him. I’m not allowed to appreciate the composition of a talented friend, now?”

“Eliza you… You know how he is, when you’ve your back turned, I’m the one who see him making disrespecting gestures! I’m the one who’s told he’s gonna steal my wife, who’s told he’s gonna steal something which should have belonged to him long ago! You have to stop seeing him, you know it!”

“I always trusted you, Gilbert, but if you came here to insult my friends, you can leave immediately.”

“You trust him more than me, then?”

“Seeing your attitude, you shouldn’t be surprised. Since Marco and his family left, you’re drinking yourself to death, you cannot stop speaking about them, and almost begin to cry when I mention _his_ name. You think I haven(t understood your little game? You take me for stupider than you, that’s it? Except you have to set your mind, now. You can’t love him and me simultaneously. Make your choice. Go back to him, I beg you. I’m not restraining you. Love him and leave this house, and never come back. If you leave, our marriage is over, finished, and you’ll be free to fuck with a happy and married man. If you stay, swear on Feliciano’s had you only have eyes and sentiments for me.”

Tino arrived late in the argument, here was the ultimatum already. What will change Gilbert’s life. Mentally, Tino repeated “stay, stay, stay”. Gilbert shouldn’t leave. He had to stay and explain calmly to his wife, even swear to her, that she was the reason he was living and that…

He left. Simply, noiseless, he left his home. All the tension accumulated in the luxurious living room vanished. Elizabetha turned to face her friend and offered him a tired and sad smile. A few tears dropped from her cheeks, but after a small minute, she pulled herself back together and asked to hear the end of her friend’s musical piece.

Tino didn’t have anything to do here anymore. He ran to the entry portal which opened for him and headed for where Gilbert was off to. He ran for some minutes and found the albino sat on an isolated bench. His face was buried between his hands and loud sobs could be heard. His body flinched monstrously at each heartbreaking sob, his voice had become unstable.

He seemed inconsolable and at the edge. Tino didn’t understand.

He had left willingly. Did it mean he had had an affair with someone else than his wife? That he didn’t love her as much as he used to? He just agreed to put an end to their marriage!

Tino approached silently and sat himself next to him, putting a frail hand on his back in the vain hope of diminishing his sadness.

It took multiple minutes for Gilbert to catch his breath, yet the tears didn’t stop falling, and to understand that Tino was to his sides. His naturally red eyes were even more reddened by the tears and gave him an vampiric air, almost like a living dead.

“You went to your home?”

“To my wife’s.”

“Something bad happened, right? What made you leave?”

“She asked me to swear on Feliciano’s head I loved only her. I couldn’t.”

“You like another woman?”

“I like another man.”

“Who?”

“A boy I know since I’m a child. He’s married, but I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“You look very much desperate to me, Gilbert.”

“Ah… you think?”

“To put all your hopes of life in an already married man and break your own marriage for someone who’ll never love you back, it’s sad. You still love Elizabetha, don’t you?”

“Y… Yeah, I guess.”

“So you’re gonna have to accept it. Never will Lovino love you back, while Eliza thinks of you as the love of her life and is devastated that you left so simply.”

“How… How do you know he’s named Lovino?”

“Oh, I just said it. That’s actually his name? Wow, I’m pretty lucky, right?”

“Don’t play this game with me, it’s not a very common name. It doesn’t even exist, it’s only him. How do you know it?” Gilbert snarled, pissed off.

“Thirty years old, Feliciano and Marcello’s brother, Francis’ nephew and Marco’s grandson. He’s married to Antonio Vargas, who took after his name, is thirty-eight. He’s a secretary and his husband, an actor.

“Who told you all that?” Gilbert screamed, his body shaken by exploding sobs.

“Pff, the Good Lord, while we’re at it. He’s got some nice info, you know that?”

Tino had an odd feeling. Sometimes, the Upthere, indeed communicated him info without warning, so that he could use it to his advantage and his client’s, but… that wasn’t the Upthere’s doing, what he had said. These things… came from him, from his own brain, and he didn’t know how he knew it.

“Stop joking around...” Gilbert chocked between two sobs. “I’m not in the mood. I’m just… lost. I don’t know what I want anymore, and I can’t hide either, I can’t live so far away from her…”

“And you can’t live so far away from him either, right?”

There was a silence, only broken by Gilbert’s miserable sobs. He agreed through his tears, as if disgusted by his own answer. His heart was breaking apart in two parts, one for his beloved, the other for his forbidden love. He had nothing left, and when one had to check what he was left with, it was a heart which wasn’t his anymore and a never-ending sadness.

“You are right”, continued Tino while drawing circles on Gilbert’s back affectionately. “You can’t hide anymore. You have to be honest with yourself.”

“But I feel like a traitor to love someone else than her!”

“As odd as it may sound, Gil, it sometimes happens in couples. We step off the road, even in the perfectest of love.”

“And how do you want me to stop feeling? How?” He almost screamed angrily, jaw clenched.

“Sometimes, they fade away with time. Other times, you have to live with them. The most important is that you create distance between the person you don’t want to love anymore and yourself… It’s up to you. Who is worthier is the question. Think about it.”

“Easier said than done...”

Tino didn’t answer and remained sat in silence by his sides. Tino’s attempt at consolation proved efficient, Gilbert trembled under the caressing hand he passed on his back, in the hope of silencing those useless complains.

Tino stood up suddenly and informed Gilbert they had to go home. It was almost eleven, they had to eat and Tino hated to spend this time of the day alone. Mathias and Lukas ate at work, Emil and Peter at school, leaving Gilbert and him. Moreover, a meal was always better when shared with another person, and Gilbert needed emotional support anyway.

Gilbert showed him the way and they began to discuss futile things to change their minds, thought Tino who disliked this kind of speech but still partook.

“What do you do for a living? Tino wondered.

“Uh, right now? Nothing. I used to be mechanic though.”

“And why nothing right now?”

“I had an accident months ago, and it prevented me from doing this kinda job, is all. Theoretically, I’m not even allowed to play the gardener, but it’s either this or explosion of boredom. Eliza didn’t mind that I lost my job… She could help an entire family live with her own income, so it didn’t bother her.”

“Losing your job had you spend more time with her, no?”

“Well, yeah, of course. I stayed at home and took care of it. I like to clean, so I enjoyed it.”

“It’s perhaps the reason behind your argument, don’t you think? Spending so much time with one another, it has to become unbearable for the both of you. Eventually, you can’t stand each other anymore and then, it’s the divorce...”

Hearing this word, Gilbert hiccuped violently, but tamed it eventually. He was wide-eyed and red-eyed, both from birth and from his recent tears.

“If you find a new job” Tino continued, with the impression he was venturing in a tortuous way, “you’ll find a normal lifestyle again, on her side and on yours. You’ll have new friends than… well, Mathias, he who works for her, and the Vargases. Perhaps you should spend more time with your best friends and leave her with her own. And then, in last resort, you could sleep separately.”

“You really think all of this would work?”

“One hundred percent sure.”

“Okay, and you then?” he asked as he tried to regain his confidence. “What are you doing in this lost part of the world?”

“I’m… uh, visiting. I’m not a full-time babysitter, of course…”

“And where do you usually live?”

“Um… Far away, really. You wouldn’t know it, but that’s okay.”

They held this little discussion until the Køhlers’ house, or whatever their names could be, and had their meal together, while joking on various topics. Then, without noticing, Tino went on about the inhabitants of the maisonette. When he realized it was the Upthere’s doing to remind him he had a mission to fulfill, he had an inaudible groan, but decided to find back some sense of seriousness to obtain more information. Really, the Upthere seemed to hate it when he was having some sort of fun during his work.

“You sure they’re only friends?” Tino questioned with piercing and knowing eyes. “I have some doubts.”

“I don’t know, to be honest. It’s true that, now that you say it… It’s strange they all three have the same family name… but, they must have their reasons.”

“Still… something’s not right. And, this Berwald, why isn’t he home yet? Why did he leave his adopted son here sending one letter only, and without any other message?”

“Okay, listen there” Gilbert sighed while releasing his fork wrapped in spaetzle, “don’t you trust anyone here? They are good people, stop fussing over their situation and try to care a little less about them.”

“It’s when you ignore the problem that it grows until it reaches explosion, and it hurts more than expected” Tino mused innocently.

Gilbert eyed him with impatience, as if he wanted to add something, as if something was bothering him. Tino didn’t miss the expression on his face and decided to “keep it for later”. It was not the first time he was told to mind his business, yet he didn’t really obey. It was his job to take care of others, and he feared nothing. Yes, he was indeed the type to stand up against stronger than him, but being angel helped quite a lot, especially when it meant the Upthere was with him.

A divine power was always a nice advantage.

The meal was then spent in a religious silence which did not put Gilbert at ease, while Tino adapted to it quickly and appreciated the spaetzle. Once the meal was finished, Tino took care of the dishes alone and let Gilbert do Gilbert things.

Humans needed to be scolded from times to times and needed to be taught things but sometimes, like it was the case here, they had to reflect alone. Some may be slow and stubborn, those ones were the causes of most human conflicts. Well, what do you want, angels mitigated these shortcomings.

While Tino lost himself in the dishes, he heard the door opening with an almost whispered “it’s me” from Lukas. Tino put down the plate he was scrubbing and dried his hands in the nearest tea towel to greet Lukas. The teacher walked to the kitchen and, seeing Tino, nodded swiftly as a greeting. Well, the fact he did the dishes didn’t seem to impress Lukas.

What a shame. Tino wanted to treat him royally to make sure he’d get the most information. No problem though, humans were easily corrupted, he’d find a way.

Following Lukas who was heading for the living room, he tried to engage in a discussion:

“You always come home so early from work?”

“That’s how it is on Tuesdays” Lukas answered with such coldness that Tino felt like he hit a wall.

“I see… was everything alright?”

“Yes” Lukas surprisingly answered while shrugging.

Lukas went to his room to put down his bag and his coat. Returning to the living room, he opened a drawer visibly made for administrative papers and took out of it many official sheets, ignoring Tino who, yet, was heavily eyeing him down.

“What are you looking for?” Tino asked curiously while looking over Lukas’ shoulder.

“Emil’s inscription to his university. _”_

Seeing how he answered, Tino supposed Lukas had a bad day, or Toni’s constant blabbering was starting to annoy him. Tino was in no way here to better his mood, so he discreetly snapped his fingers. A sheet fell from the rest and flew right to Tino’s feet. He immediately proposed himself to pick it up to hand to back to him but couldn’t help to throw a glance at what he saw written in Norwegian beforehand.

“Is that… a marriage act?” Tino loudly wondered. “Between you and Mathias?”

Luka stood back up and let go of his papers on the living room table. He ripped the official act from Tino’s hands and coldly laid it down with the others. He glared at Tino with a death stare and a severe posture.

“You’re married?” Tino dared, fully knowing he risked his job. “For how long?”

“One year only”, Lukas answered reluctantly. “Could we drop the subject?”

“No! It’s captivating!” Tino feigned enthusiasm. “How can Emil and you both have Mathias’ family name? Emil isn’t married to some Køhler girl, is he?”

“Enough with your questions” Lukas apathetically stated. “I am not supposed to answer.”

Tino stayed silent and began to think, while Lukas sat down in front of the family’s computer. The silence was merely interrupted by the sounds of the keyboard. The officially papers were still laying on the little table, and God knows what could be hidden between those sheets…

The gears of Tino’s mind were rotating furiously. So Lukas and Mathias were married, it was no mystery anymore, and considering the language the act was written it, it happened in Norway. Lukas went back to Norway… despite him knowing he had enemies there? Perhaps they had been attacked there. Tino couldn’t know. And thinking this, a realization hit him hard: of course, they’ve been attacked up there!

It was logic: by returning to Norway, they lit up the revengeful flame of their foes, who has therefore been able to track them down back to Germany thanks to their little trip. And they’re harassing the weakest of the two, so that the chief breaks down. So that he surrenders. So they’re on Emil.

Then, Lukas was trapped. In the hope of living in another country, he messed up his own plan. He was perhaps even unaware of this… After all, he did call the police, and had to be desperate to do so! With this problem of family names, the two brothers had to be pretty much illegal here, and although this whole thing died out with time, the little family they formed with one another was at risk… They played big, all of this for Emil’s safety.

“I cleaned your room earlier”, Tino faked musing. “A box fell right before me, from an out-of-reach drawer.”

“And what did you do with this box?” Lukas demanded, tensing up against his chair, ending standing up.

“I… opened it. And I found articles from different newspapers which were interesting, some Norwegian identity cards… Many things, in the end.”

Lukas kept his mouth shut, fully realizing what he just heard. He stayed on his feet, phlegmatic and rigid. He walked to the couch Tino sat on and joined him. His voice had become icy and Tino received it like a pointy stalactite right in the heart.

“What are you? A spy, a policeman undercover, a right-hand man?” He wondered.

“None of these. I’m Peter’s babysitter, is all.”

“Then why are you seeking such information? Our life was planned out correctly until then. I won’t let you ruin it. Don’t even think of informing the poli...”

“I’m not here to ruin anything I just wanna know, perhaps help you. There has to be a solution to your familial problems, don’t you think? Does Emil even… know, all of this? Does he know where he comes from and what you hide from the rest of the world?”

“He knows what he needs to know...”

“And what does he need to know exactly? He’s twenty-three already, it’s an adult in.. I think, all the countries of the world! You can’t say your lives were “correctly planned out” when Emil ignores his origins.

“The more people are involved, the more chances there are for the secret to be revealed.”

“But it’s not just one stranger here, it’s your brother! Your blood brother, you brought him with you from Norway to this place, in a lost village of Rhineland-Palatinate to hide from assassins, you protected him until now, enough for him to go the University he wanted to go to, to study what he wanted to study. You did everything for his future, but his emotions, Lukas? His feelings?”

“What do you know of what he thinks?” Lukas growled with disdain.

“Everyone knows what he thinks of you, even yourself, except it’s hard to accept. He’s afraid of you, afraid of talking to you, tired of living in the fear of being attacked, he feels like you’re doing nothing, for that, I admit it’s a wrong on his part, but he resents for you. Light his mind. Explain him.”

Lukas’ down lip, which he was nibbling, had been freed, but trembled now slightly, agitated by a burning passion. Lukas unfolded his arms and let them fall on each side of his body, he who seemed to always keep his posture in check…

His low, suave voice was running on emotions which he had difficulties to hide, for once.

“So he hates me. It’s nothing new.”, he said while trying to keep his head cool. He stood up again and stumbled a bit. He headed for another drawer of the living room and took out of it a familial album which he threw on Tino’s lap with nonchalance.

“That’s where you’re wrong. In spite of this, he loves you. More than anything, he loves you, and he knows you love him back”, Tino continued as he mindlessly opened the album. “You just both have… strange ways of showing it, but it doesn’t prevent his love. His anger is illegitimate, but that’s because he does not understand. If only you explained him where he comes from… This lone thing… He’d understand. You’re his only family, he only has you to rely on, don’t give up.”

“He wouldn’t understand. He’d took me for a fool.”

Tino remained silent and focused on the album he had been given. On the front page were scattered photos in black and white. A couple, mainly, with an infant in the lady’s arms.

“It’s me, there”, Lukas indicated after a moment as he laid his fingers on the infant’s body. “And those ones, here, are our parents, killed twenty years ago. I don’t have any photo of them with Emil, I never was able to get some.”

Lukas opened the book for Tino and looked at the new photos with an air of melancholy.

“After this, it’s only pics of Emil and I”, he informed. “He and I running away, he and I after finding back Mathias, he and I living in the streets… he was so little, and I had nothing to ensure his safety and keep him healthy. I worked as much as I could, I became a beggar and ate almost nothing, the little food I managed to obtain was for him. He first walked in a dark alleyway of Hamburg, between trash cans. He was late compared to other children, but I was unaware of this. This day was a happy one because I realized he was growing up, but it also meant he was going to understand our situation. Sometimes, he cried for our parents, and I had nothing else to say but ‘me, I’m here’, yet it only made him cry harder… Then, when Mathias became eighteen, his family’s heritage got him this house. He found me along with Emil and he brought us here. Berwald was already over, and as I had nowhere else in the world, I stayed. I explained my situation to Mathias and I passed off as friend of Mathias’ family who took care of Emil, whom I dressed up as a long lost Køhler. Mathias’ parents helped me and in the end, I got his papers. They didn’t dare to run DNA tests at the time… and with the ruckus caused by the fall of the wall, it went unnoticed. For me, I acquired my visa thanks to the money of Mathias’ parents, as they had… connections. My file was far from legal, but it was washed away with time. I can’t allow the police too deep in my life. Moreover, I’m a teacher, if I end up guilty of anything, it’s the end of my job. Last year, I proposed to Mathias, except here, it’s not legal yet. So we married in Norway to make my family name vanish, and here, we signed a pact of _Lebenspartnerschaft_ , and I took after his name.”

Lukas massaged his forehead and pinched his nose, eyes closed. In spite of these revelations, in spite of his mixed feelings for Tino, he stayed cold-faced and royally calm. Tino was both impressed and intrigued…

“But this marriage and civil union… is this only to keep you hidden? Is there truly nothing between you and Mat?”

“That is not important…”

“I think it is. He saved you from a life of begging, he supported you in your illegal procedures, he accepted to marry you and stay with you till death to protect you… Many would have given up at the first challenge and would have let you down, don’t you think?”

“I realize this, but as I said, it does not matter. Right now, right here, it’s about Emil, not me.”

“Apropos… I paid him a little visit and managed to get information out of him. Something which you will hopefully recognize… All of his attackers had the same distinctive sign. A tattoo of a black bird, always the same.”

Lukas closed his eyes and hid his face between his hands for some seconds. He was so immobile, as if petrified, that Tino thought him gone in another world, but a playful tickling move brought him back to reality quickly.

“I… I expected that. They are member of the organization which killed our parents. Policemen were powerless against them… and so am I.”

Tino grinned sympathetically. He already had an idea, he just needed to… motivate Lukas. Yes, motivation and happiness.

“So we gotta get help! Who could have such a network that could stop them for good? Elizabetha is wealthy, she could…”

“I will not ask Elizabetha for help. Or anyone else, for that matter.”

“Yet, it’s the only solution we have to save Emil… you don’t have much of a choice.”

Tino disliked Lukas’ abrupt answer. He had to take the time to reflect, instead of stupidly refuting his propositions, which were, if I dare say, extremely clever.

Lukas remained silen t and stood back up. He walked a bit in the living room, reflecting, and fortunately. While he  paced around, Tino observed him virginally. He allowed himself a rigorous but discreet observation: he was thin,  of average height with a squared body, yet his shoulders were more flowing. He had a prominent Adam’s apple but it always went unnoticed, as the spectator’s attention was always brought back elsewhere. The sparkling cross maintaining his hair, his deep blue eyes, his roundish face.

His nose was small but sharp,  his lips thin and deprived of colors – it could be difficult to distinguish them apart from the rest of his sin, impossible to clearly know where they stopped. His mouth, in general, was small, which gave more value to his cheeks than what they already had. His skin was bright, similar to Emil’s, and only had for an imperfection a different-colored dot near his left ear, like a scar. He wasn’t perfectly shaved, but the only barb he had was so bright it wasn’t noticed by most people. Fortunately, Tino had his eyes specifically trained.

His arms and legs seemed a bit muscled, or he was so  skinny that the different was hard to make, but it was not probable. It was safer to assume that he trained a bit.

On his neck fell curly blond hair. They formed, on the right side of his face, a bang which gave another youth to his figure, he seemed at least ten years younger. The only signs showing his age were light wrinkles on his forehead, but similarly to snow, they disappeared in the landscape of his forehead, so that it was crazy to tell he was thirty-seven years old. Truth be told, next to his brother, he never seemed much older…

“The only solution” Lukas stated while stopping his march. “Is to ask for help. To someone with a network, you are… right.”

“I know that. And then? You don’t want to ask Eliza, so...”

“The Vargas father. He knows people around here, everyone in Europe even, but… especially here.”

“Oh, really? The Marco everyone relentlessly blabbers about?”

“He’s got some popularity here… He has for sons famous… entertainers. They are of good family.”

“His children are actors? What a family...”

“I could ask Mathias to ask them...” Lukas mused.

“That’s exactly what you should not be doing. Go ask them yourself, it’ll work out better, don’t you think?”

“I’ll go ask them.” He eventually agreed. “But with Mathias.”

T ino didn’t have any more complaints. As far as he was concerned, Lukas was okay if he asked for help. Thanks to the Vargases’ help, the gang which wants Emil and Lukas’ heads will be stopped, their problems solves and they would only have to befriend each other again, but seeing how Lukas’ interest for this brother was unbending, it would not take much time. He vowed him an infinite brotherly love, he almost starved for his brother, and that’s a deed of extreme kindheartedness or stupidity, but both were often linked.

“But before doing anything”, Tino rejoiced while jumping on his feet, hands clapping. “You’ll have to reveal everything to Emil. And be careful: I do not mean half-truths. I want you to tell him all about his origins, okay? You’re also gonna have to explain yourself on why the police was powerless, in brief, everything.”

“You are right...” Lukas shamefully mumbled.

Well, “shamefully”. Tino had no idea if he actually was ashamed, he had great difficulties reading this man’s emotions, but he hoped he was ashamed, or else, he failed in his mission. Tino noticed however that Lukas’ behavior to him changed.  In addition to having speech difficulties, he was utterly shy. He was courageous and brave to bear on his shoulders alone his entire world and Emil’s, but they had to find a compromise, and finally give Emil the freedom he deserves.

T ino was more than aware of Lukas’ sentiments. He raised this brother with nothing, tried to make someone good out of him, and  he probably succeeded, but it is always hard to part from someone so dear to one’s heart.  Nevertheless, Emil needed fresh air and to know who he truly was.

Well, this thing solve, Tino had two others missions: Peter’s lost family and Gilbert’s wife.

So Tino left Lukas with a heartwarming smile, Lukas did not answer to it, only looking at him gravely with as much apathy as usual.

However, as Tino approached Gilbert, who was lost in his phone, to speak to him, Lukas’ phone rang instead. The  ringtone was, a five-note melody, echoed multiple seconds before Lukas was able to answer.

“Hej? Mathias? At home. Why?”

A nd then, he shut up. Yet, no sound was coming from the phone, Tino heard it. He seemed paralyzed, petrified. Then Mathias’ voice could be heard again, but Lukas removed the phone from his ear and quickly hung up.

Gilbert, who was popping up through the door, glared at Lukas oddly before asking him what the matter was.

“Berwald is back”, he simply answered, keeping his eyes focused.

“Dude, that’s awesome!” Gilbert exclaimed enthusiastically. “It’s been months since last time we saw him, how-”

“He’s at the ER. With Erik.”

Tino grimaced painfully. This close to solving problems, but new ones surface. He sincerely hoped Berwald and Erik were alive and would remain alive,  as death would destroy all the unstable foundations of this family’s relationships, everything collapsing with only hate and disgust left.

So, a nightmare.

Lukas struggled to get his car key and ordered Tino not to reveal anything to Peter. Gilbert climbed in the car as well, and they departed for the hospital.

Tino felt an embarrassing shiver running through his back. He felt like he had no control over his clients, and this terrified him. It was the first time everything went to hell, and the first time he had so many missions to simultaneously manage. What a bummer… being the best angel in the world got him the worst cases each time. Nonetheless, he stayed hopeful… He couldn’t lose his hope, not now. He would succeed in forming a family for them, in saving Gilbert’s marriage and in bringing this mysterious Berwald home safe and sound.

It was his duty as a guardian angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again !! Here I am again, giving to you finally this second chapter of the story. I hope you enjoyed it. Now, explanations:
> 
> -Germany's schools have 8 levels in one building, from 5th grade to 12th grade, so if Marcello went to college, he had to change school!
> 
> -Spaetzle, or Spätzle, is a traditional type of pasta from South Germany. It's mostly eaten in Rhineland-Palatinate (where the action takes place).
> 
> -A Schultüte is a cone filled with school supplies and candies that parents offer to their children in Germany for their first day of school. It's a type of rite, that's why people often take pictures of the child with his cone! That's why you see such pictures with Emil, Peter and his brother on the frige, although true Germans wouldn't really hang them on here, but they aren't true Germans, so it's alright.
> 
> -A Lebenspartnerschaft, Ziviler Solidaritätspakt, etc. is a civil union in Germany. It was the most used way to marry for homosexuals in Germany as gay marriage wasn't legalized yet in 2010 (date of the action). It was authorized in Norway since 2009 however.
> 
> -To kiss on the cheek is a really Roman/Mediterranean/West-European way of greeting. It's vastly used in France and Italy, but absolutely not in Germany, where you'd be seen as a creep. And I'm talking from experience.
> 
> -Oh and "rosette" is a kind of "saucisson" (that's a typical French meal) quite popular in Germany for breakfasts, as Germans tend to have "salty breakfasts" (like most Germanic nations nowadays), compared to the French or Italians who have "sugary breakfasts" (like most Roman nations nowadays), that's why saucisson is eaten so early in Germany.


	3. Angels have to be fixed

The mood Tino was in was curiously ineffable. He was somewhat lost, and had difficulties keeping his mind clear. An indescribable confusion messed up his perceptions.

He was walking in the street, drowning in a reverie. As an angel, he had oh so many responsibilities. He was to become the foundation in a group, an open ear, a decision-maker. It was quite hard for humans to hate on angels, because they outshine anyone’s hatred with a bright spiritual aura, a surprisingly powerful one, which allows them a better integration.

Angels were born with an unmistakeable reason, they had the knowledge of the everything. They speak all the languages in the world, even ancient ones, know all of the past, the present, and work for a better future.

Well, that was in theory. Perfect angels do not exist. Tino was the closest to the definition, but in the facts, he was much different. He made mistakes, he failed, he doubted his choices…

He was the most humane of angels, and that was what made him so efficient. It was also why he was blamed, but his deeds on the terrain gave him the legitimacy to go on with his job, instead of being thrown away, assigned to something else than humans. Nonetheless, being the most humane of angels was exhausting. He was a living paradox, he could confuse himself sometimes. His angelic instincts dictated him something immoral to the eyes of the mortals, to count a life as worthier as another, to be heartless, while he knew he had a heart, beating faster and with more fire than the others’. It gave him the power of pure compassion.

So he arrived in front of Peter’s school with a persisting doubt. Will he tell the news to the young boy?

He, who has not seen his family for months… he, who attempted, alone, to support on his twelve year-old shoulders the burden like Atlas did the world…

He was afraid of his reaction. Will he scream out of joy? Break down in tears? Or worse, act as if it were normal, because he would want to act as an “adult”?

Tino was afraid he wouldn’t know how to help him, he didn’t want to inflict such an emotional shock on such a young child. Moreover, Lukas’ orders were crystal clear: not to tell the boy anything until they discover if Berwald is “safe and sound”… What kind of idiocy did they swear on to order him that?

If this boy’s father, whom he cherished dearly, was to die, he had to see him lively once before his death! A last time with some spark in the eyes, not a cadaver during the funeral, not some ash in an hermetic urn, not a lifeless body on an hospital bed… No, absolutely not!

So he had to know!

But… it would be giving him too much hope, it would kill him would he discover the truth.

Tino had to decide nonetheless, and seeing the boy’s angelic eyes seeking for him, his doubts vanished. He couldn’t opt revealing him the truth. So he greeted him and asked him how his day has been, if he had thought when inviting this Marcello over, if he had learned some interesting stuff.

The discussion was frivolous and pointless. Tino wasn’t showing his best side, his mind was tortured by his moral questionings. The only thing which got him out of his trance was sweet-tongued Peter who suddenly asked him, quietly, if angels could dream.

“Not like in a nocturne dream,” he added. “But, in life, do you have dreams?”

Tino was taken aback by the question. It seemed firstly purely stupid, as it is the kind of wonderings children have, but after broader consideration, he understood what the answer implied.

“No, we don’t dream.” He finally answered.

“But, why? Don’t you have families up there? Friends? You can’t not have future plans! Papa has some.”

Families or friends? Tino couldn’t give a proper answer to this. Indeed, he had contact with the other angels, but there wasn’t any society… juste a simple and natural hierarchy. And in their immortality, they had always the same mission anyway: protect mankind. Why in the hell would they have dreams?”

“Well, no. My personal dream is to protect humans like you.”

“But… after this?”

There is no “after”! What did this kid want to say, for God’s sake? His only resolution is to protect humans, and the day the Upthere decides it won’t need him anymore, he’ll disappear, is all. There is nothing to explain, it is the natural order of things.  
But humans like to have these wonderings. And Tino suddenly hated humanity in its entirety. A twelve-year old boy, without thorough experience, compared to a thousand-year old angel, just questioned the sense he was giving to his life. For his sanity, he had to change topics.

“Your father had future projects, you say?”

“Yeah! I listened one day as he was talking to Uncle Mat…”

“Are they good friends with one another?”

“They’ve known each other for a long time… They hated each other before, Mat revealed to me. Now, I think he’s as sad as me that Papa’s gone.”

As he said those words, Peter sighed exhaustingly. He lowered his head and sought out Tino’s hand, taking it in his with passion. The angel, with his free hand, made him look up and the tears in the corner of his eyes appeared to him.

He had him sit on one bank of the park they were walking next to, in a forgotten part. The half shadow was growing, the lights being block by the trees’ dense leafs. One could hear, as background noise, children’s tears who did not want to leave just yet, who were hurt, or infants starving after a long day.

This dull atmosphere contributed to Peter’s tears, who trembled with hiccups suddenly. Everything deteriorated as the sun set in the distance. Tino hadn’t had the courage to tell Peter his father was so near, in this very town, but yet out of reach… His tears reflected the setting sun, golden pearls blessing the ground they fell upon. He became boisterous, repeating soothing words to himself, but they remained incomprehensible to foreign ears.

One can never be too young for such misfortune, Tino mused. He embraced Peter, now in a miserable state. Uncles can’t replace a father so dear to his heart. His biological mother being unknown, Tino should’ve helped him finding her back, like he did to every orphan he met. It often could be the starting point of the problems, when a parent was missing… but egoistically… Tino chose not to. Peter wasn’t in need of other parents when he was here. He could furnish and provide him with all the love on Earth, everything one could give to such a child, to whom he related, in such a situation.

He could see his reflection in the teary ocean-colored eyes.

He was the most humane of angels, the one who felt misfortune so strongly when it stood before him. The one weeping for the dead, the one who once was about to give up… Millenia of his own story were to be found here, in Peter’s eyes, like a flame growing weaker and weaker with time…

This wasn’t right. Something was up with him, he had to find the roots of his problem and get rid of it! His bad emotions were going to jeopardize his work… He was not human…! Well, he had to be convinced of it.

Once Peter was asleep in his arms, like a kitten, Tino took some time to think. The landscape offered to him was dying, the colors merely shades of grey, only the sun’s halo between high buildings in the far distance. Tino couldn’t keep his tears for himself in front of the spectacle. Nature wasn’t the cause, of course it wasn’t, but the feelings it amplified in him were tortuous… With an automatic gesture, he touched his own halo, invisible to humans. He took it off and stared at it longingly, saw the tarnished sparkling it wore… He even thought it had been broken in half, like an overused rusted metal.

The parallel one could underline so easily between his situation and the state of his halo was desolating and disheartening. He sighed and, putting the cursed aureole on his head, he held Peter closer to him. The feeling of wellbeing he could get out of this simple action made him blush. Their scene was like a baroque painting, so he snapped his fingers and both of them disappeared, seen by some utterly shocked man passing by.

 

 

 

He had woken up the first, with an intense pain located in his skull. He was sat under Peter, on the living room’s sofa, the boy asleep on him. Tino certainly fell into a dreamless slumber before his boy and way too quickly, because he would have never closed an eye with such a weigh on his body.

And these pains… this soreness in his muscles, his unwanted stiff neck… It was not possible. He couldn’t feel pain, an angel cannot be hurt, what was happening to him? Becoming crazy? Going to disappear? Dying? A divine punishment?

He thought he was going to collapse, his spirit was poisoned with macabre ideas, he was sinking into despair, until he heard a distinct noise in the kitchen, a sound he knew so well: an angel’s descent. What was the meaning of this? He was really going to be punished? He knew stories of fallen angels after having felt a grand dolor.

He ran to the kitchen and there, he saw a tall man with long hair tied back, his eyes were icy blue. His features were harsh, almost squared. He wasn’t smiling and didn’t seem like bringing some good news and looked down upon Tino with disdain. The angelic dust was slowly fading away, but he couldn’t be so sure as this man’s aureole, shining so brightly, was blinding him. His own halo should be looking like this, not to such… old and overused wedding ring which lived for too long. He was still so young, so unknowing...

“Who are you?” Tino questioned, his voice rash.

“You’re not to ask questions here”, the other angel growled with severity. “I should be the one asking you how you can let yourself go like this, with only a child? Did you think of yourself as his father? You cannot go on like this, treating him like your very child, like you client even! He is not a client of yours! What kind of laxity, this lack of professionalism…

_  
You’re going to tell me things I know already? What do you expect me to do? Do you have the solution?_

He wasn’t so resolute to talk back to his superior like this.

“Peter isn’t my client?” he asked himself, only realizing. “But he is in need of help, isn’t he? You are not punishing me for doing my job, are you? What would you do anyway? My situation isn’t punishable, I-”

“I would have assigned someone else to this mission, had I been more despicable.”

“I will not allow you!”

The scream he voiced surprised him as well. He felt something was wrong with him, and it wasn’t exclusively his feelings’ fault, he was aware of it. He was missing something important. So precious he couldn’t guess its value. He was a seashell which had lost its jewel, he was abject, what was there to do?

“Give me a chance”, he managed to muttered in his despair. “I’m almost done here, I just ask for… more time.”

“You are under my watch, now”, the angel growled as you’d do to a misbehaving child. “Another mistake, and you’ll be sent somewhere else.”

Tino was going to replicate, he even had a legitimate wondering, but his colleague vanished in golden dust, which itself disappeared in the air. Tino felt out of his element, he had a desire growing stronger, a desire which went against the angelic nature, which made him even more unstable. His heart was racing in his chest, he fell on the ground to breath deeper and recollect himself, his hand clenched on his heart, as if it were ready to burst out and fly away.

Everything had to go back in order, and the sooner the better. He was going to wake Peter up and tell him his father was home, as every good angel would have done.

So he stood up again, snapped his fingers to make himself presentable, because Tino wasn’t exempted of what’s ugliest in humanlike bodies, and pulled Peter out of his sleep with a voice which he didn’t even recognize, a voice which did not belong to him.

The young boy scratched his face. He burst out of his sleepy state, remembering he had missed his clock and school, remembering he was not in bed and absolutely not showered… Tino reassured him, telling him Lukas had asked him not to bring him to school. Let’s not misunderstand here, Lukas had told him that because he expected they’d know what state Berwald was in and would tell Tino right afterwards.

So Tino checked his phone and indeed noticed a text from Lukas. It read “alles gut, bringt Peter mit, fahr mit dem taxi nach dem krankenhaus, ich bezahle”.

Ah. No need for a taxi here.

“Peter, I’ve gotta tell you something. Forget about school.”

“But… I had important homework for today, I have to give it in today…”

“Peter, your father is home.”

Everything disappeared. Time stopped, froze for some moments. Peter was glaring at Tino with big eyes. He remained quiet for three seconds and then cried all over again.

“Where is he?” he wondered with a squeaky voice, like a mouse’s.

“In the hospital, but do not worry! He’s okay and wants to see you too.”

Tino was afraid. Once again, he spoke like an angel faking compassion, like a machine designed to please humans. If he brings Peter to his father, his mission would be over and then... he'd go back home. Nothing more, nothing less. Far from the Earth's drama, he would go somewhere else. Seeing his mental breakdown, he would be sent to a less pleasing job for sure, to animals or even aliens.

Then, Peter burst out in hiccups of joy, which made him laugh and cry simultaneously. And that's when he perceived the spark of life and humanity shining in the boy's eyes that Tino kept his sangfroid. If he could restore a being's joie de vivre; a being so brave, and reunite him with his family, then he wouldn't regret his human side anymore. He would be sent in a hellhole for sure, but at least... he would always keep in him the memory of this mission perfectly accomplished.

"Now Peter", he said, "I'll show you one of my magic tricks. Close your eyes and trust me."

At this point where he risked his affectation on Earth, he didn't even care showing his magic off to bring joy to this boy as quickly as possible. He snapped his fingers and they both disappeared in a clear bell-sounding noise.

 

 

 

As they landed in front of the hospital, Peter was in the seventh sky. He ran, Tino following as he could, to the entrance, where he asked for a "Berwald Oxenstierna". He was offered as an answer the number of his bedchamber, number 325, and was even informed some family of his was already here. Peter rapidly understood how to travel through the building and ran to the chamber he was informed about, with Tino following with great difficulty.

Joyfully, he went through each corridor, carefully avoiding the nurses who were about to scold him, but who restrained themselves when they saw Tino running after him. The angel couldn’t help but blurt out half-thought apologies to each person knocked out by the boy, though he did not stop running.

All the corridors they went through were unicolor, only animated by Peter’s unstoppable laughs and finally, after this full-speed race, when they reached room 325, it was closed. Tino could hear voices inside, weak and sour. Peter, out of breath but full of bravery, approached the doorknob and when he pushed it a bit, the voices became mute.

Peter’s vision concentrated on the knob, everything all utterly erased. He couldn’t glare away from it, and couldn’t get it down either as to open the door. Fully paralyzed, he felt dizzy and suddenly anxious, and this added to his lack of breath, made him stumble. Confused by all those perceptions, he let go of the doorknob and sat against the wall of the room.

Tino put a paternal hand on his shoulder, indicating to him that everything was gonna be alright, that he had nothing to fear. He had stopped crying or screaming out of excitation, only brutal hiccups tore his body apart, and his lament went so strong that it alerted some other patients who only threw a glance at him, out of social timidity.

When footsteps could be heard from the inside of the room, Peter tried to calm himself down, to pick himself up and clean his face, but of course, none of these succeeded. Tino didn’t act this time around, to have a better analysis of the family’s reaction…

Oh. The person who had just opened the door wasn’t family. Or he didn’t know him.

The man towering over him had a death stare, as if just disturbed in his sleep. It was perhaps the wrong bedchamber? It was also perhaps the most attractive man he had ever seen… what?

No. No correlation. Tino, get your shit together! He never felt so red, and ashamed as well, feeling his heart beating this way… what a sweet melody that love provides! This man’s soul was so white, so pure for an adult! So love really does give you wings, Tino thought feeling his back itching suddenly, as if electricity ran through his actual angel wings. The sensation was intoxicating, a real delight, all his senses were on fire, his mind became hell. The perverse pleasure which boiled in him ended him in his dementia.

That’s what’s love at first sight is about? Such a blow, such a strike? Was it always so literal? He felt like he had received a poisoned arrow in the chest.

The man knelt down next to Peter and took him in his arms without warning, which brought Tino back on Earth. Well, he really came back to his senses only when the door he wanted to pass had been shut without him noticing, and when he crashed into it miserably. He stumbled backwards, the unsuspected pain and shock dissolving all these fragrances which had bewitched him only five seconds ago.

What a mess his mind was in… This sole reflection had him forget all his lascivious ideas, completely out of place and perversive. His fractured aureole reminded him well of his corruption, he could feel it above him, a symbol of his perversion… but it was only to a sentimental degree! Never would he commit a fault related to his chastity, being physically or mentally. He didn’t have the actual mediums anyway.

Everything happened so fast that it was soon erased from his memory, and then, standing back up, he opened the door and greeted the family he finally met up again with. Shame and satanism were forgotten, he became once again the pristine angel. Nobody saw him, so why should he worry?

Lukas was up against a wall, with an air of disinterest around him. Yet, he observed Peter as if he had just seen a ghost, but internally, Tino could tell he was genuinely caring and protective. Next to him was Emil, sat on the only chair, with his hands in his sweatshirt’s pocket, and head low, almost ashamed, for a reason Tino didn’t know yet. Finally, Mathias was messily laying on the patient’s bed, but seemed to have stood up quickly to make place for Peter.

Peter walked forwards. The man had put him back to the ground and had walked to his bed, standing next to it. Peter seemed mesmerized by the scene, as one also does when entering in a luxurious castle where one was waiting for a coronation. Would he be the one crowned? Or was he gonna crown someone else? What difference is there to make?  
Tino finished entering and closed the door quickly, as discreetly as possible.

When Peter saw his father clearly, standing tall in front of him, he was firstly surprised. Not that his father here, of course, but that there was no sign of wounds on him. He approached, totally amazed. Berwald was unmoving, with a glare full of emotions one would never be able to describe.

Berwald was a giant. His legs couldn’t possibly fit on the bed, seeing the difficulty he’d had entering in the room in the first place. He had a pale skin, like the other Kohlers, and therefore blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing black glasses which were slightly misplaced, certainly because of his uncertain position. His arms were opened to Peter, as if he wanted to embrace him, but he wasn’t doing any of that, strangely enough. His son finally reached up to him. His whole being trembled and shook, his body paralyzed by violent tears, a leaf flown around by autumnal winds. He bawled so loudly that Tino noticed Emil jumping up, seeing how sudden it had been. The joy and relief he had kept to himself were expressed all at once. To say he exploded was an understatement, and the episode in the corridor, next to this presentation, was just a training.

Berwald’s smile grew progressively. He soon couldn’t contain it anymore, although he wasn’t even trying to in the first place. Peter threw himself in his arms, because they were the last things keeping him grounded. His father shuffled his hair, caressed his back vividly. Peter soon had his arms around his neck like a baby koala who can’t even think of letting go. This timid choreography translated such a strong desire of reuniting, such a familial love, that the Sun was soon showing off his bright rays of light, illuminated the painting with a burning energy.

The tears of joy shed were melodious, a unison of cried laughter. The harmonious chorus pulsed with a red flame which fired the bed up, with the sunlight akin to spots kissing the scenery. Tino felt his wings grow, it was so. He could nurture himself out of human happiness, and this demonstration of affection, this orchestra of emotions, revivified him like he had never been before. He was seriously beginning to think Peter was an angel, no human could irradiate of such purity around their relatives.  
After Peter’s tears had been calmed down, and even though he didn’t have the energy to walk anymore, Berwald stopped focusing on him and threw a glance at the stranger who had brought his son.

Tino forced himself to keep a brilliant smile, to efficiently hide the terror this man inspired in him. He looked angry, but Tino couldn’t understand him. He was quick off the mark, always vexed someone could judge him negatively, he who tried his best in every situation. It was maybe because of his spectacle in the corridor…

Lukas began to speak, Tino looked at him instead of Berwald:

“Berwald, here’s Tino. We hired him…”

“Nah, you hired him” Mathias riposted. “I chose Gilbert, but Lukas thought…”

“Lukas was right.” Berwald quickly added.

“Oh, that was for sure!” Mathias childishly but angrily admitted. “When it’s about teaming up against me, you’re the best friends around!”

“We are always best friend”, Lukas falsely interrupted. “So, here, Tino. Tino, Berwald. Peter’s father. I hired him to take care of Peter, because Gilbert is not capable of anything, and this, from birth.”

“Lukas, I already told you Peter could go to school alone. Everyone does it here. If you had given him more autonomy…”

“I prefer to spend millions instead of raising another child. I was expecting you to thank me, seeing your son’s excellent health and material comfort.”

Ah. So this was what Peter was trying to protect and support. Tino had had his hopes higher for them, well, shame on him for hoping. What heartless children, what mannerless and uneducated imbeciles could live together, seeing the discord among them? Tino was patient, oh yes he was, but that all of them, individually, could be so stubborn et intellectually limited killed him. Peter had perhaps been right saying he was the only link between them. The only one giving them a sense of unity, the only one loving each of them as much as he could, only for these feelings not to be necessarily reciprocated.

So the situation lights up. Peter was maneuvering in the wrong direction, fighting for all of them to live together, in peace and bliss, while it was evident they had to part, breathe in deep and get away from each other.

In a family, once the child is old enough, he flies somewhere else to build his own home, his true place in society. Here? Right here? Only idiots looking like old jerks who prefer to rot together instead of giving all the chances to the next generation to make it out. Sure, they weren’t to the point of almost dying, but this still didn’t give them the right to restrain Emil in his life and Peter in growing in a healthy environment (understand, here, without underlying tensions).

But Tino was an angel. So he wasn’t gonna express all of these imprecations he stood by out loud and would try to sort it out like an adult. He would use his reason to fight against Man’s strongest passions and have them understand how stupid they were being.

Of course, it was also part of an angel’s job. Rewording courteously a scathing insult was capital, rhetoric was fundamental when it came to convince someone, so it as actively taught to trainees in the Upthere. Tino was a godsent orator, it was his main adjective when someone wanted to scream his talents to a public.

“You should all get along better” he proclaimed proudly, before realizing what he had really said.

Ah. The master of rhetorics. What an idiot. Did he really just tell them to “get along better”? Who, o Lord, who, on this Earth, could word such a bad piece of advice? He was desolating, to the point his cheeks reddened out of shame. He hid his face between his hands and couldn’t therefore see the confused, circumspect, or simply disdainful glares thrown at him.

“What are you trying to say?” Peter tried, in the vain hope of clarifying everything to avoid some misunderstanding.

“I wanna say I’m…”

Before he couldn’t even thought of a correct ending to his sentence, a nurse, a completely normal man, entered without warning and spoke, disregarding rules of politeness.

“Mr. Kohler, you are asked to the reception. Lukas, I think.”

Silence reigned. Mathias walked forwards and corrected the nurse:

“You mean Mathias, right? I’m coming, I gotta…”

“No, that’s Lukas… yes, Lukas. M. Vargas is waiting for you, he’s the secretary, but you can go to his office from the reception.”

The man walked off as quickly as he came in, leaving the family quite confused. Lukas went to the door, saying with nonchalantly: “Administrative problems, you know…”

“Lukas, stop it.”

Emil was standing in front of his chair, facing his brother. He had remained quiet for quite a long time, and no one really took interest in him, but he was there, observing as always, the eye shining with secrecy and perhaps even cunning, looking carefully at everyone’s movements.

“That’s not a mistake, right”, he accused ferociously, with yet some sort of disappointment. You’re still hiding stuff from me, is that it…? Answer me.”

Lukas remained quiet, his face concentrated on the door, turning his back to his brother, faking disinterest.

“You are married, right?” he almost raved. “That’s why everybody talks about you as a couple… all the time… I always thought people didn’t understand your friendship… but even that you don’t tell me, Lukas. Your own marriage. Since when? Why? Do you really love each other? Why I am I called Kohler, why do you repeat to me our family name is Bondevik, and then Steilsson? You’re getting lost in your lies? You can’t keep trace of all the bullshit you told me; all of that to hide some sort of truth which, I’m sure, isn’t even worth the pain? You… you just… I don’t even know what to tell you anymore… I’m so full of your behavior, so… Stop, I beg you. And at least, answer me. Say something, anything.

Why aren’t you answering me?” he eventually screamed.

He was teary-eyed, his muscles tensed up, his fists and his jaw clenched. Wearing his sweat with white laces falling from his shoulders, he made himself look unknowingly younger than what he thought. He was also unconsciously trying to make himself look bigger than what he was, trying to intimidate the enemy to make him succumb, but Lukas wasn’t flinching a little bit, although he had turned around to look at Emil in the eyes, his face hard, but calm; severe but relaxed.

If his answer involved any kind of infantilization against Emil or purely avoiding the topic, Tino promised himself he would intervene, to force him to speak, and at least unknot those fraternal tensions.

Thirty seconds later, forty seconds, even a minute, yet Lukas wasn’t moving. He was shaking, wasn’t looking away, but wasn’t speaking either. Was he afraid? Was he remorseful? In doubt? Ashamed? Emil didn’t want to snap first, but his stature whittled away and his courage was ripped to shreds.

Therefore, instead of standing up to himself, Lukas fled. He disappeared in the corridor, weapons down, and ran like crazy. Tino went after him instantly, without further reflection. Lukas almost hit some nurses passing by, working on their machines, but ran so quickly that Tino nor Mathias managed to catch up with him.

Tino didn’t have any other choice. He indicated to Mathias he was going somewhere else to try and find him and, drowning in the endlessly similar corridors randomly, he lost track of Mathias and ran on, both in hope of finding Lukas perchance or just getting lost enough to be sure he wouldn’t be heard when he snapped his fingers to teleport exactly where he was needed.

 

 

 

He appeared in front of a door he opened, almost breaking it, and penetrated inside like a demon looking for its victim. The lights weren’t on, the blinds prevented the sun from illuminating the place, but one could still distinguish Lukas’ silhouette, sat next to a bet in which one could guess a body peacefully asleep.

“There’s no treatment for what you have”, Tino whispered, closing the door delicately. “Your cowardice. It’ll stick to you forever, it seems.”

He approached Lukas, signing to him he wasn’t here to hurt him or bring him back in any way. Only here for a little talk.  
“How did you know I was going to come here?”

“You may think yourself unpredictable, but you truly are just an open book. Seriously, Lukas, does it happen to you that you can think? I expected more discernment coming from a philosophy teacher.”

“Is that an insult?”

“Leave your ego for five minutes, please? Learn how to talk sincerely, learn how to trust, learn how to show affection. You still haven’t said a word to your brother, and yet, in front of me, you were ready to acknowledge you behaved badly. But I understand. I understand you may fear his reaction, and I’m gonna admit it to you: he’ll probably distance himself from you after the revelations you’re gonna tell hm, but it’s that, or he leaves definitively, no coming back. He’d perhaps regret it at some point, but it would be too late, you wouldn’t be able to reset everything and start afresh.”

“I don’t want to start afresh with him, I don’t want him to forget everything I’ve done for us because of vengeful imbeciles.”

“Okay, bad wording on my part, my bad. I meant it’s still possible for him to pardon you if you tell him soon enough. Now, if you don’t do anything, he’ll end up fleeing away, and you know it as much as I do. And when it’ll happen, there won’t be any possible pardon. He’d be gone already, and you, what will you do? Lament over your photo albums? Frankly, sincerely, honestly, Lukas, what are you gonna do? Will you let him leave in silence, force him to say until he becomes unhappy, or you’ll eventually, finally, after so much time, tell him everything, reveal, proclaim that you have been an idiot for so long to hide all of this stupid bullshit, that he’s indeed the heir of a rich Norwegian family, that he’s the youngest, that you are his only family left, everything he had, and that you apologize, that you’re ashamed of your behavior and that you’ll start treating him like an adult?”

Tino didn’t think it was possible for Lukas to look so sad so quickly and so easily. Well, he had to admit he just repeated he was being stupid and a tad shortsighted, and logically enough, it’s not something protective humans like Lukas would like to hear. Protective? Was it really the word? They were only desperate nostalgic persons, what to do with them?

They need comfort, to trust the future, they need support. Tino took Lukas’ hand in his own, without bothering himself with asking beforehand, but the sweetness with which he moved, the grace and tenderness of his action, disarmed Lukas of all his masks. Lukas, driven by the heat of his hand, relaxed slowly. Tino made him hear his low, deep and firm breathing, freed from all doubts. The exterior equanimity of Lukas vanished. From further away, one could think it was an intimate love scene, a reunion… but it was none of those. Tino used his natural goodness to calm tensions and dissipate passions.

Lukas breathed deeply.

“Think about theater, cinema, in brief, actors and comedians” Tino said, sweet-tongued. “Before any kind of representation, comedians have a session of sophrology. Take a little green dot. It’s made out of lava, it’s burning hot and so comforting. It’s in your chest, it floats there, unperturbed. It lights your torso up, your lungs, your sides, your heart… and it begins to move. It moves slowly towards your legs. It fills your body with a pleasant and satisfying light. Imagine a liquid, akin to lava, flowing through your members, to your toes, and it’s hot and it’s comforting. Breathe from the belly, to your personal rhythm and send this lava bubble to your head. It heats your skull up, your ears, your nose, and you feel so good, your entire body is relaxed thanks to this little bubble… and when you feel ready, open your eyes and pull yourself back together. Meet me again.”

Lukas followed these instructions and after one minute or two, woke up again, feeling so… good. His passionated mind managed to find trouble in their absence, but globally, he seemed at peace enough to hold a sensed conversation.

“Are you okay, everything good? Ahah, I’m the one who taught that to Molière, he was so stressed for his representation of the Imaginary Invalid…”

“Didn’t he die right after it?”

“He did, then, what? You wouldn’t believe your ears if I told you how many playwrights kicked the bucket in front of me. Have you heard of Goethe? Dürrenmatt?”

Lukas laughed quietly, amused. He stood back up again and noticed the stranger in the bed. He gave a start and indicated to Tino they had to get out because they were noticed. They managed to get away silently.

“You’re a funny one”, Lukas said nonchalantly, looking on the panels for the direction of the secretary office.

“You are the funny one. I’d never flee in front of my brother. You better speak to him right after the secretary office, understood? I’ll make you. And to be honest, if it were just me, we’d directly go to your brother.”

“The secretary’s name is Vargas. Didn’t you want to ask his family for help?”

“A Mrs. Vargas? Who is she?”

“That’d be Mister Lovino Vargas. The oldest of Marco’s grandsons. He should be able to inform us on his grandfather. I didn’t know he had left his prior employer for this place…”

“He better be able to tell us stuff. Come on now, the faster we’re done with this, the sooner we’ll be home. Berwald won’t stay a lifetime here, will he?”

Lukas didn’t answer and continued on his way, unperturbed. Tino could see with his lanky walking style that he was embarrassed, or even intimidated at the idea of meeting this Mr. Vargas. The name didn’t sound really friendly. One would think one was meeting the secret CEO of a secret organization. With a name only made out of initials, like SSPP or something like that. It gave him the chills. Nonetheless, Tino pushed these thoughts away when they reached the secretary office. Lukas was tensed, Tino couldn’t help but ask what was bothering him.

“I’m not used to speak to strangers and Vargas is… intimidating.”

“He’s on his workplace, it’ll work out, stop worrying. Come on, we’re going in now. And you better mention your little problems yourself, I’m not a spokesman or anything!”

Lukas clenched his teeth and, approaching the door with the inscription “Vargas”, he knocked timidly and opened it with hesitation, as if he was entering in a room he had been forbidden to see by his parents, to the point he feared being madly scolded for his wrongdoings.

Tino distracted himself mentally with these comparisons but soon had to come back onto earth when Vargas’ hard voice echoed, ordering for them to enter. And entered they had.

Tino hadn’t imagined this Lovino so… well, hard to say… Better to explain.

Lovino was a man of average height, his skin sunkissed as if he just came back of a holiday trip and had around him an air of disgruntlement which never seemed to fade away. It looked like he worked against his own willpower, and the files disorganized all around him were a proof of that. The room wasn’t exactly a trash depot, no need for exaggeration, but it was like a teen’s room… “an organized mess” he’d certainly say. Another proof was his clothing: a long-sleeved white dress shirt, which remained open and under which one could see a beige shirt. He was wearing a pendant, some sort of talisman akin to a magical gris-gris. The white string retained a golden ring, glowing in the sunlight, along with a little sculpture with a hidden meaning. On this ring were carved many things one couldn’t decipher from afar, and Tino would have loved to ask what it was about, where it came from, and other useless wonderings more useless than the others. One couldn’t see his pants, but Tino guessed it was something chic, because his appearance reflected his workplace: messy at first glance, but with afterthought, there was an interesting research of style, an importance care with mysterious influences to set off anyone’s curiosity. Few people dressed like this in Germany, yet he didn’t look like a stranger.

In brief, this man radiated with a feeble presence, which could certainly scare the most simple-minded off. Hence Lukas not managing to word a single sentence without repeating it six times. Tino didn’t even know why. Lukas wasn’t an imbecile, far from this, but Vargas wasn’t showing any animosity towards him. He simply glared at him, eyes tired, his fingers typing on the keyboard to fill out documents as quickly as possible.

“Lukas, don’t we fucking know each other? Are you really gonna lose your famous sangfroid in front of me?”

“Oh, you know each other?” Tino asked with excitation.

“Sure. Since childhood. I already told you Mathias was the problem, so I won’t get angry if you’re the only one here.”

Interesting remark. Tino wouldn’t let go of this piece of info anytime soon, and was even going to ask what it was about before Lukas cut in sharply, as if reinvigorated with a cold and nonchalant energy.

“I’d prefer you speak of me and to me with more respect, Mr. Vargas”.

“As you want, your Majesty Stick-up-your-ass. Just answer to my questions and you’ll get the fuck out of here quickly and nicely even. It’s just an exit permit file, no need to freak out like you do” he said on a tone which was meant to be joking, but ended up sounding like reproach.

“I don’t have any blood link with Berwald, you should know… You should have asked for Mathias instead.”

“I didn’t want to see the face of the fucking idiot you married, screaming in my ears for simple and insignificant information”

“I’m glad you’re so cooperative, Mr. Vargas” Tino cut in before the situation goes crazy. “In fact, Lukas has reasons to be stressed out, because he would like to ask for something of you, and you know him, he always had difficulties speaking out…”  
“What do you want.”

His tired voice, as if it were the fifth time he was asked this today, added a lot to his sudden slowness of movements. He directed his hand to the drawer of his desktop, a mechanical gesture he couldn’t overcome and, once the drawer was opened, he took some tamped pages with each the same signature.

“I’d like to know where I could find your grandfather. I learned earlier he went away, do you know when he’d eventually come ba…”

“We came back two days ago. With him. Why would you want to see him? You know what, in fact, I don’t give a fuck of what arrangement you could have with him, it’s just… unusual.”

As he said this, he closed his drawer again while ordering his little signed pages inside.

“I am used to people asking for autographs in Antonio’s name, mea culpa.”

At this moment, something in Tino clicked. Lovino, married to Antonio! He was the man Gilbert fell for! He was the man that could leave Elizabetha cheated upon… No surprise Gilbert succumbed, Tino noted. He had his charms, but the spell could be broken, he just needed to act before hearts fall apart first.

Tino didn’t realize he glared until Lovino crossed his gaze. He apologized swiftly, but Lovino’s curiosity was picked.

“Do we know each other?” He wondered while scrutinizing Tino’s face. “I am under the impression we’ve met before.”

“I don’t think it’s possible!” Tino joked. “My name’s Tino, just a friend. I came here recently, but I’ve heard a lot of you in the meantime!”

He was trying to change topics. It was always bad warning to be told he had a “familiar face”. It meant everything and nothing at once. Problem was, some of his missions ended badly. Let’s say that, sometimes, he revealed his secrets to adults. Children, it’s no worries. Who would trust a child, he could show them a picture of the Upthere, no one else would hear of it or try to understand it. Adults, however, were far more dangerous… To palliate this problem, the Upthere has had a radical solution: they’d delete his memories about these specific humans, to prevent him being tempted to see them again as friends, and vice versa for the humans.

Tino couldn’t but agree with such a solution, he knew he had limits he couldn’t overpass and that sometimes, he had to be punished. But then, he could end up with a human telling him they had met before, claiming he has seen him somewhere already.

“Heard of me? People speak of me?”

“Oh, yeah. Peter has much to tell, he narrated me all kinds of weird stories about your family.”

“I’m not surprised…” he grumbled. “He likes to be nosey.”

“It’s true, but he’s a child, we all know how they are, right? He likes so many people, this little one appreciates you a lot! With his uncles, your brothers, Gilbert…”

“I got it, now. Give me your information and finally take your leave.”

Tino succeeded in what he wanted. It was when he mentioned Gilbert that he lost his patience, and it was an estimated hint. Lukas managed, without stuttering, to throw up all the information he had to give, giving out insurance papers, stuff like that whose functioning Tino never understood: he never had to fill them out, after all.

“Thanks a lot!” Tino exclaimed enthusiastically. “We’ll visit your grandfather during the week, goodbye!”

He took Lukas by the arms and led him outside the room, without letting him blabber polite phrases he certainly didn’t even want to blabber to Lovino. He seemed irritated by Tino’s manners, but what do you want, humans are stubborn, it wasn’t his fault. He had to act.

“Hey, you’re enemy with the Vargas son over there?” Tino jokingly said. “What has Mathias done to him to deserve such a treatment?”

“Nothing, it’s just… something we had a long time ago. Twenty years ago perhaps, I don’t know.”

Tino would have loved to go on on this track, but once again, reality was against him and they found Mathias. He was leaning over the countertop of the entrance, out of breath, harassing the hostess to give him “everything she could said on a man not so tall, blond haired, and running like mad.” He seemed about to collapse from exhaustion, his legs trembled and his body shivered with each inspiration he interrupted to give more details to the hostess. If the angel wasn’t mistaken, he was also in tears.

After a moment, Tino got tired of the scene and quickly eyed Lukas, who was glaring, a feeble smile printed on his thin lips, who wasn’t realizing the distress of… well, his husband.

Tino elbowed him slightly in the ribcage to get something done, and Lukas didn’t miss the opportunity to throw him an enraged glance, because Tino’s idea of a chaperon was driving him crazy. If such was the price for a well executed mission, then so be it. Furthermore, he had to look a bit more… proactive to the Upthere: his colleague had told him he was being watched now. He bettered hurry up if he wanted to get this done.

Lukas went to Mathias who, at his sight, jumped at him and strangled him with his arms from both anger and delight.

"I'm tired of you running away when Emil wants to have a talk with you, Lukas... I beg you to listen to him, you idiot... But I'm so happy you haven't done anything stupid, oh thank the gods Lukas you have a minimum of reasoning in you..."

Mathias was lost in his teary hug and was so verklempt by his sentiment that he took Lukas' lips on his own to kiss him tenderly, with such sweetness coming from such a big guy that all sounds extinguished in the room. Fortunetaly, it wasn't that much crowded, and the few bystanders were just trying to go on their merry way, not taking in account the lovebirds doing the show.

When they finished their kiss, Mathias unclenched his arms and walked away a bit, his hands fixed on the forearms of his spouse.

"Sorry!" he cried out with a saddened look on his face.

Here lies the difference between a saddened look and a sad face. The emotion one could read on his face wasn't intense, but was a key to understand his character. He was frowning, not in an evil way, but as if he was remorseful. The features of his face weren't pulled by complicated emotional grimaces, just a half-opened mouth with eyes as big as windows to the world.  
"I forgot you didn't want us to... kiss in... public... sorry..."

And one could feel in his voice, in his suddenly abashed demeanor, that because Lukas liked him as a lover, he could brush off such futile things.

Lukas answered in inaudible whispers, brings his mouth to Mathias' ear to murmur a secret, just to apologize. Tino didn't want to interrupt so just glared at them dreamily and he couldn't ignore the deep melancholy in him, which he thought was fake. Of course, he couldn't be melancholic! Nor nostalgic, or anything related to human feelings, because he didn't have any! He certainly was just tired, here is your explanation. Or stressed out by the mission, it was more probable.

And while he was debating on his own angelic integrity, Mathias and Lukas promptly turned in his direction, throwing their glares behind him. Brutally brought back on Earth, he threw a glance behind his back and swiftly stepped aside to make room for Emil who stopped in his track, his eyes reddened. Paralyzed by the attention he was given, he could see Mathias holding on Lukas' hand for dear life and Tino swore that, for once, Lukas wasn't trying to flee. Then, after further inspection, it was perhaps even Lukas holding onto Mathias' hand as if it was the last thing keeping his feet on the ground, seeing the white strings appearing around Mathias' joints.

Lukas hesitated to move first, and Emil seemed determined not to move to finally hear explanations he deserved.  
"You were gonna go out?" Lukas asked while approaching, pulling Mathias with him.

Emil looked away at first, but quickly after, he recollected himself and faced his brother, eye to eye. Mathias managed to get away from Lukas and stepped aside as well, joining Tino on the sideline.

Yes, let's not hide facts, all of this was awfully similar to a telenovela, a corny show as sentimentalist as possible, but what do you want? Nobody was ever able to unchain themselves from passions and Venus doesn’t have a habit of only capturing one of her preys, humanity in its entirety is a victim of her malediction. Here was love's cruelty...

"...I wanted to."

"Did you want to go far away?"

"The furthest away."

"I see."

Lukas was but serene, although he was not displaying it. Tino congratulated himself for finally deciphering this man's behavior. Unnoticeable movements, suddenly too rash in his attitude, some sort of uneasiness...

"Yes, we.. we do. We have loved each other for a long time now, and yes we... we are married. Since last year..."

Emil remained silent, he was waiting for the storyteller to go on uninterrupted. Lukas wasn't so keen on monologuing now, but the situation demanded it, and he was feeling brave, Tino guessed. What a force he has to finally show what was on his heart...

"Pardon me. I am sorry, I should have told you, it's true, there are ten million other things I should have told, but I haven't, because I thought it kept you protected... it didn't work, but it wasn't ill-intentioned. When you were just a baby who still didn't know how to walk, our parents were assassinated. You never knew them, and to be honest, I didn't either. But I knew we were supposed to follow after them if we stayed there, so... I left. I took you with me, and we fled."

Lukas keeps quiet. He waits for a reaction on Emil's part, but it doesn't come, Emil gazes at him, unmoving.

"Where did you think of sleeping tonight?" Lukas asked, folding his arms on his torso, not to intimidate, without afterthought.

"To Leon's. Where did you want me to go?"

"Do you pardon me?"

"It's not against you, but..." Emil murmured, fidgeting with his fingers. "I'm going to go. To Leon's."

Lukas didn't flinch, but his suddenly more active movements translated such an unusual uneasiness that even Mathias, next to Tino, was beginning to jump on place. Visibly, he wanted to intervene and it seemed like he bore the same love to Emil Lukas did, but Tino was adamant on the topic: the brothers should have such moments of intimacy to sort things out, which allowed the only biological brothers to love each other limitlessly. The link which brings them together was way more powerful than what Mathias could think of... he shouldn't ruin it.

Emil put his left hand on Lukas' forearm and looked at him for some seconds, before exiting, without turning back, his gait unbending.

The doors closed behind him and the discussions in the hall came back at full force, bystanders clearly less embarrassed by the situation. Lukas, however, noticing how many people had heard, had witnessed this encounter, felt bad. It looked like he was suddenly touched by a violent illness. Tino, in the end, allowed Mathias to come to Lukas' rescue, and the both of them walked towards Berwald's room in utter silence. Lukas, stiff as a poker, always with an air of nobility around him, kept himself a bit far from Mathias who desperately tried to take his hands in his.

They disappeared as they turned left, without taking in account Tino who indicated he'd follow not to worry them, but he had other way more interesting plans at the moment.

He ran back to Vargas' office, didn't knock and entered, making sure of their intimacy to talk out loud of his little problems.

"Lovino! It's your name, right?"

"What do you want?" He barked, standing up from his chair, menacing. "Can't you see I'm trying to work?"

"Gilbert, you know him?" He demanded, ignoring the complaints he was receiving, tapping his fist on the table to underline the name.

"Gilbert... Beilschmidt? Of course I do. What fucking kind of stupidity has he proved himself with this time around?"

"He's about to divorce Elizabetha because of feelings he can't control, and I need your help. Well, no, he needs your help. Not me."

"Why would I help him?"

"He loves you. With a burning passion, something not allowed for a married man, and I want you to break his heart."

Tino tried his best to depict Gilbert's behavior as negative, he needed not to awaken any kind of compassion in Lovino, Gilbert wouldn't be able to break from his sentiment without a clear message. He fantasizes on Lovino because he's there and still unreachable, untouchable in spite of their promiscuity which could have linked them sometimes in the past. Peter did tell him they passed a lot of time together, and Tino could clearly reinterpret the scene...

Gilbert, at a stupid party for some kind of festivity, being Christmas or a birthday, or just a yearly meeting to "bond", swiftly eyeing Elizabetha and then Lovino, to see who would break out first because of his impolite glances.

Of course, Elizabetha would notice and as a woman of nobility, she'd order him to stop this little game of his, firstly because of mundanity, but then, she'd truly begin to feel hurt, knowing he was looking at someone lovingly, and that someone wasn't her. She'd talk to him in another room, during the party, and would explain to him his actions were hurting her honor, because she didn't want to admit someone would run out of love for her, especially to fall in love with a Vargas she had wanted to treat as her son for a long time. Gilbert would avoid the accusations, but his eyes, perhaps subconsciously, would show an almost died out flame, a fading out love, an unstoppable disappearance, against which it is vane to fight.

So Elizabetha would start to make a show out of it, would spice her personality up with some kind of craziness added to her already bubbly demeanor, but Gilbert would laugh it off, would tear her efforts apart with a simple uninterested laugh, tear all her efforts to conquer him back, declare her love to him to shreds.

Tino was beginning to understand what Gilbert reproached to Elizabetha. He felt, in the deepest part of his soul, that there was only one fundamental difference between Elizabetha and Lovino, but unfortunately, he had for hints his ineffable instincts only, like a pond with unclear water. It had to come from his erased memory, but he felt Lovino was more honest, the most transparent man on Earth. Elizabetha, at first, had to be so as well for Gilbert to marry her in the first place.

However, she gained money and fell into a game of dissimulation which her husband disliked. He who at the beginning wanted nothing more than honesty and truthfulness, fell on the only person in the world who, changed by richness, found contentment in lies and secrecy.

Here was his plan: he wanted Lovino to lie to Gilbert, and have him discover that Lovino was no better than anyone else. Furthermore, he wanted Elizabetha to get over herself and admit with sincerity she'd change back to what she once was, with certitude, and not some abstract potentiality.

Therefore, he had to maneuver quickly, and beginning with the main disturbing element, of course. So after his description of Gilbert, as bad as possible, Tino began with his clarifications:

"Your husband is an actor, am I right? Ask him for lessons, as you go. I want you to be friendly with Gilbert, well, I want you not to be unfriendly, let him near you, but I want him to see your hypocrisy, have him understand you're disgusted, but stay also calm and approachable. Do you get what I mean?"

"So, my brother" he announced disdainfully. "I can do that."

"At least, with this, he'll finally stop touching himself on photos of yo-"

"I'm sorry?"

"No, well, okay, you have to sweeten him with the demeanor of a jerk, the most ill-intentioned with a nice smiley face."

"I got it, calm down."

"With this, I convince Elizabetha to be truthful again, and he'll go back to her. Isn't it easy?"

"Easy? You explain love like you'd explain mathematics, when it's far more difficult than this. If your plan ain't working, what are we gonna do? I clearly don't want to be involved in their domestic hate."

"You don't really have a say in this, your brother isn't the one who inadvertently stole his heart, it's you. All of this can be pretty quick anyway. In two days, it's over, I call it."

"You're too optimistic, it looks like you've made a job out of this."

"To be frank, it kind of is the case."

What more to say? Tino left nonchalantly, because his mind was tortured by his client and forgot simple phrases of politeness. And this young Lovino kind of got on his nerves. Ah, young! It was a big word, this man really looked like thirty.  
Instead of continuing with his mockery, Tino took out his phone and, because of his laziness (or perhaps pure ignorance, but who knows what went through his angel head?", he snapped his fingers. A call started immediately afterwards and Tino was fast to put the mobile on his ear.

It rang four times before someone finally answered. He was himself surprised by the cheerful voice which answered so joyfully:

"Gilbert, where are you? Yeah, it's Tino."

"Ehm, well, Lukas drove me back to Elizabetha's. Why?"

"Sorry? He did what? Is everything okay between the two of you?" he genuinely worried.

"It's alright. We avoid talking to each other. What did you want?"

"We'd need you to talk to Marco, could you lend a hand?"

"... Lukas told me not to..."

"You know what? Lukas can go fuck himself. It's just you seem to know Marco a lot, so we thought you'd be able to bargain with him, just to make sure we get what we want out of him."

"You're speaking about what Lukas and you spoke about in the living room yesterday? His network stuff."

"We need it to keep Emil and Lukas safe, you get it, right? It's for the far future, but..."

"Don't worry, Marco can't refuse me anything. He owes me forever."

"If you say so... Can we go tomorrow? We need that to be resolved as soon as possible, so that my missio... so that they're safe. Okay?"

"Yes, lieutenant." Gilbert mocked Tino's lapsus, who hung up first, relieved he didn't raise any suspicions.

All of this was over. Case closed, it was fixed. Tino already had tomorrow planned out, he exactly knew where and how to act. All of this was based on precise calculations, a finely studied strategy... no, it's not true, he was trusting his instinct, but he had to say his instinct rarely got him wrong in the end. So he'd continue to listen to its voice.

Once he had finally reached Berwald's room (in the 300ies, it was so far up!), he was told its members left ultimately, and went to pay a visit to Erik Oxenstierna, and Tino didn't even care about listening to the room's number the nice nurse was telling him. He went for a random staircase, empty, and teleported.

 

 

 

The door was identical to all the others in the closed and dead corridor. The only difference was the voices inside. The joy one could feel through the walls was briefly satisfying, with a limitless energy, which Peter gave away to everyone, completely free of charge. That was Peter's gift to his family... alone, he was a sunbeam, but it felt like, reunited with his closest friends, he became the sun itself, radiating with an impressive magnanimity.

Tino didn't want to impose, so he snapped his fingers once more, and a screen with the view of the room appeared in front of him. Peter was next to his brother, sat on the bed, hugging him tightly, so tightly that the smaller one was about to suffocate. Logically, they didn't bear any resemblances to one another, but they were undoubtedly brothers, as soon after their embrace, Erik pinched his brother's leg hard enough to have him leave the bed, because he "takes too much place".

Erik was a young redhead, around ten years old, with illuminating light blue eyes. His head was largely bandaged, which ran from his right ear to his nose, but it didn't cover his eye, fortunately. The wound had to be grave for such a bandage, poor child... What has he lived through with his father to end up in such a state...? one could have thought of a sword slash across his face, seeing the path the fabric took on his face.

His cheeks were constellated with freckles, his face was so white it looked sickened, and he was perhaps sick after all, that's what one does best in a hospital: being sick. His nose, partly covered by the fabric, was still roundish, his cheeks seemed still pinchable as well, seeing how Mathias tortured them to annoy the boy. To resume, it was a child, so still not formed, and yet not without a shape.

Berwald was near his children, like a cat after giving birth, ready to protect its younglings from the world and its corruption. Mathias, overly excited by the return of the "Schätzchen", as he said, no, as he hammered it, couldn't help but play with the boy like one would with a doll, played with his arms, his cheeks, messed up his hair and brushed it differently, and in spite of Erik's behavior with his brother ten seconds before, Mathias' more than unrequired gestures didn't seem to bother him that much. Tino was perplex, but after all, brotherly disputes are frequent and don't necessarily appear as comprehensible, hence why, perhaps, the discrepancy of treatments Erik had towards his brother and towards his uncle, but still... When Mathias tried such things with Emil or Lukas, he got rapidly shut down, and this child looked like them a lot...

Tino was maybe mistaken. He didn't know him, after all. It could also be the shellshock of his experience which could have him behave differently, but the family didn't seem that worried...

"This Tino", the angel heard, looking for the source of the voice to focalize his vision on it. "Is he... good?"

"Yes", Lukas quickly answered, and Tino finally saw his interlocutor was Berwald, understandingly still worried for his boys. "I'd even say excellent if he didn't have this desire to put his nose in things he isn't concerned with, but otherwise, he took good care of Peter. And it brought some freshness in the house, as you and Erik were gone."

Mathias had begun to play with the boys with a puerile game, to distract them, to reassure them, too. However, Tino was convinced he was simply trying to ignore the conversation behind him.

"And Emil? Why is he gone?"

"He found out, of course."

Lukas' nonchalance with addressing the topic, his application to look flippant, was distressing. Berwald was aware, Lukas' brother was off, and nobody seemed to truly care. Lukas, who always seemed so keen on knowing everything, wasn't caring.

"You let him go?"

"I didn't have a choice."

"Do you remember what I've told you?"

Lukas reflected for a bit, his eyes fixed on the agitated bed. He crossed his arms and expired deeply, his face still apathetic.  
"You want to leave, right?"

"Look what happened. I think it'd be best if we lived separately; I mean my family and yours."

"You can't stand living alone. That's why you moved it in the first place."

"At the time, I didn't have two children to take care of."

Lukas sighed and turned to face him. The difference in height was impressive, but Lukas still was more intimidating thanks to the coldness his being radiated with.

"Then go. You decide, it's not my business."

"It won't please Mathias."

"Since when do you care about what pleases Mathias or not?"

They limited themselves to this, a short unfriendly discussion which seemed to involve perfect strangers.

They were so uninterested in each other that Tino couldn't even know what maintained Berwald so far awat with his son, and what hurt his son. Peter had clear reasons to be anxious about his family's future, Tino finally understood his worries. The solution, though, was already there: Berwald and his sons would leave. Tino's heart missed a bit as he had the vision in front of him disappear.

He walked through the long and empty corridors, closed and dead. Everything seemed wrong. Excluded from the rest of the world, he put his back against a wall and let himself slip, slowly, until he was sat, his face on his knees, around which his arms were crossed.

His colleague had been right. He was becoming crazy, even irresponsible. Peter wasn't his client. Only Emil and Gilbert should have counted, but he had let himself slip, once again, and he had to be strong again. Peter was a mere mortal. Kohlers were mere mortals, worthless, they didn't have any value.

He had to be convinced he didn't have anything to do with them.  
Or everything would fail.

Melancholy over something one never had and suddenly lacking of chthonian sentiments, these perverting elements which drew the angels' bodies apart... Tino repeated: he would become happier if caution and virtue guided his steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the third chapter!
> 
> Here are the Vargases, they aren't simple references anymore (remember Mathias' spaghetti recipe in the first chapter...) After Marcello (Seborga), here is Lovino (South Italy). You'll learn more about their past in other stories!
> 
> I don't like to explain things already told explicitly in the chapter, but I feel like it now, so Lovino is Antonio's husband, they married some years ago. He made studies in management and became a secretary, in spite of his wills and needs. He worked in an enterprise he left to join the hospital, where he works now.
> 
> For what's said about Feliciano (North Italy), I'll talk about him later in chapters or as a foot note, but I have a special treatment for him.
> 
> Now, on important points of the chapter:
> 
> -translation of Lukas' message (who wrote in German): "everything is alright, take Peter there, take the taxi to the hospital, I'll pay you back"
> 
> -the sentence "One is never too young to be unhappy" is a reference to a song from French songwriter Jacques Higelin, in a song where he talks abut war and children stuck in an adult world who have fun killing each other. I don't retake it for the war theme but rather for its literal meaning, and also because it's dear to me personally. On the other hand, it could be linked to Erik's condition.
> 
> -"Schätzchen" is the diminutive form of the German word "Schatz", which means "treasure". Another variation would be "Schatzi", and it's a strong word. A parent would tell it to their child, two lovers would call themselves this but in this family, the "Schätzchen" is Erik, called like this by everyone most of the time.
> 
> -the most important note, concerning the abbreviation "PPSS". It is a reference to the fanfiction I liked the most, And Three Makes Five. It's an organization which is mentioned and takes care of the nation personifications and protects them. It means Personification Protection Security Services. Because I loved this fanfiction, I'll try to use some of its important themes in my story, to pay tribute and also because they're really interesting.
> 
> -The last sentence is totally not mine. I took it back from the Princess of Montpensier, a short story from Madame de La Fayette, a French writer. In this story, her heroin, the Princess of Montpensier is lovesick and her desire burns with a pure passion she can't control. The short story ends on these words.
> 
> I'm glad I finally succeeded in writing this chapter, and I hope you'll like it. If you notice any spelling mistake, notice me, and if you have anything to say in general, leave a comment, I won't force anyone. Thanks to you and see you next time for chapter 4 (this fic is not abandonned, I'm just late in everything).


	4. Angels sometimes fail

With a new day comes a new angel, armed for his next task with a detailed plan of action; there was a war to wage, victory was the trophy. He had to find a way to make Gilbert hate Lovino… Although he had warned the latter of his ideas, he doubted the plan would occur accordingly, he had to intervene further, deeper in their relationship.

It was uncommon: usually, he preferred to let humans lead their own battles and bathe in their own victories, but the Upthere was watching him, his certified colonel was keeping an eye on him, ready to blame him once he’d have broken the protocol. Which he certainly will break.

Therefore, to achieve his goals, he had to use even more magic, and even if the plan was risky, he was the type to dive into the mess, a puzzling all-or-nothing-type of logic. First of all, he would force destiny and have them meet “randomly”, have the distraught lover and the man of his dreams meet.

Then, he’d break his heart. He’d tear any possibility of a blissful life apart, would shoot desolated illusions into Gilbert’s mind, and the soldier would fall proudly and go back home, to his wife. Elizabetha and Gilbert have been waiting one another for a long time. Gilbert waited for her, as she was discovering she had run out of love for Roderich. Perhaps they lived some happy hours together, a handful of minutes which, quickly, would run out as well, and they were now so separated… A no man’s land lay between them, a map of Love which was yet to be discovered again, as it had been forgotten. Actually, it was not to be rediscovered: it was to be reinvented, they had to overwrite the lines of the past and draw their own ways, or be helped by the bestest angel on Earth. They got lost, and lost their hearts as well. Really, how could they blind themselves so strongly?

Tino took up arms and, around ten o’clock in the morning, used a ridiculous pretext with Mathias’ family to disappear. He dressed up and left, and then wondered if he really was right, involving himself so intimately with this jumble of mixed up problems. Perhaps there was a solution which would allow him to distance himself somehow, and let the knots untie themselves naturally, but this technique would take hours, days, and he had no such time at his disposal.

He reappeared to Elizabetha’s home, or rather, in front of it. Anyone could see the mansion from afar which, in the middle of nowhere, seemed to hide in its heart medieval mysteries. The whiteness and the splendor of the manor dazzled Tino, and the colors and odors, results of the horticulturist’s work, were driving Tino crazy: this mystical place had minds spinning for sure, Tino wasn’t surprised Elizabetha became… who she is now.

He rang the bell of the greenish portal, its colors had vanished with time, and waited for someone to open the door for him.

The door was unlocked by a man Tino hadn’t met yet, and he who thought he knew these people well enough to also know of their acquaintances… but it looked like there were still some dark spots in their lives. Elizabetha remained a captivating mystery.

“Aye, what are you here for?” he was asked in a weird and hard to understand accent.

“For Gilbert Beilschmidt”, he answered hesitantly.

“I’ll ask Ma’am.”

The man didn’t seem young, neither old, but was evidently a gardener, with his blue overall and the various utensils lying on the ground near pinkish flowers. He headed for the door where he smashed a button on the interphone and asked for “Ma’am”, who answered pretty quickly. Tino eavesdropped shamelessly:

_“Madam, someone’s asking for your husband at the door.”_

The man sure came from an English speaking country, but even his English wasn’t comprehensible, he was perhaps new around here, or perhaps hadn’t got the hang on German yet.

_“I will, Madam.”_

The weird gardener came back to the door and unlocked it, leading Tino to the entryway. Was the economic crisis this bad? She used a gardener as a butler? Wasn’t she the richest woman around? How couldn’t she afford proper domestic servants?

The gardener showed Tino to the sumptuousness of the interior design. The decorated walls danced like volutes in their two-dimensional worlds. Rich tapestry embellished one wall, narrating some major historical events, but Tino couldn’t decipher what was represented exactly…

While he concentrated on a certain piece of art, a firm voice tore him from his reverie, the voice marked with deep lack of enthusiasm.

“Greetings”, Elizabetha said, uninterested. “Gilbert is out, I don’t know when he’ll be back.”

“Why allow me to come in, then.” Tino wondered out loud, not acknowledging the few manners he knew of. “Don’t take it personally.”

“I felt you had something to share with me.”

“You’re not wrong”, Tino admitted, unsettled by the finesse of her reasoning, so he preferred to keep his eyes busy with observing the decorations around him. “I think there’s no need for formalities…”

“Actually, there is.”

Tino surreptitiously sighed. He could see she was getting annoyed, with her rigid composure, her closed face and her uneven breathing. If his very presence could bring her this far in resentment, he couldn’t imagine what would become of her after he’d told her his ideas.

She didn’t seem to want to offer him a seat or any drink, which left him standing in the entryway and looking at her awkwardly in the silence she contributed greatly to.

“Listen to me attentively”, she suddenly said with a newly found energy. “I don’t want anything to do with the Køhlers anymore. I’ll only sustain professional relations with Mathias, and that’ll be it. Have I been clear?”

“They haven’t done anything to you…”

“They are a source of problems, and I think it’s my right to take decisions involving me, and me only, don’t you agree? If such is my conviction, I don’t know whom, and on which honor, would make me change my mind.”

“Somebody who knows you’re devastated.”

“What do you know of me?”

“I know what tears your heart in two, I know you’re thinking Gilbert doesn’t love you anymore, that he loves another woman.”

“A man. He’s enamored with a man. If I’ve been an object all this time, that thanks to which he discovered himself, I prefer not to hear of him anymore. And trust me, the problem isn’t his potential homosexuality, it’s making me believe, making me hope, while he’d eventually leave, by force of circumstance. It’s for this cruelty I blame him.”

“You want to cry?” Tino inquired, noticing her reddened face.

She looked away, lifted a hand to her forehead and took some time to think things through.

“Did you talk to your pianist friend? Told him about it?”

“He finds Gilbert’s behavior as illegitimately punishing as I do, of course.”

“Why keep him here, then? I get it, legally, it’s complicated, but you could’ve triggered the divorce procedures weeks ago, no? Ask him for a divorce.”

These words pronounced, Elizabetha remained intensively pensive. Her features sweetened by reflections, inadvertently, she lowered her guard. Tino put his hand on her arm as a sign of affection, taking her by surprise.

She moved herself alone. In her head were fighting atrocious ideas, so strong she could think nothing of them at first, because she never cared for them, but the flame of her pain revived them each time, and this flame took its source in her memories, in forgotten and locked memories, like a song, a warm sentiment…

Everything was contributing to the act of remembering her feelings, anything could trigger these thoughts, she was subject to the worst tortures.

“There’s no necessity for your pity”, she stammered, pushing Tino’s hand off her.

“It’s not pity, I swear. Don’t hide what you feel, you can be yourself with me, with everyone, with anyone…”

“How wouldn’t I be me?” she almost sobbed.

“It’s hard to play such a long game, don’t you think? It’s over, you don’t have to be all-mighty anymore, the untouchable, the unkillable… Your behavior is what drew Gilbert away from you, and had him love somebody else.”

“Are those supposed to be words of comfort? Leave, get away…”

“No, not yet. You know I’m right, so let me finish this… You don’t have to hold your tears in front of him, to fake your emotions and play the noblewoman. It’s your honesty he loved the most, the one which had you ‘act like a boy’, back in the day. You fought for your rights, for your freedom, and all that led you to your cosy life. You have shares all around the country, you’re the richest Elizabetha Héderváry, the self-made woman, you are in every regional newspaper for your charity actions and your business. You won everything, and lost one thing only: your integrity. Gilbert spoke to me about it, it’s no empty rhetoric I’m speaking! He loves you, a lot, even. Let’s just say… you haven’t made the task easy for him. He’s lost between his love for you, and the love he’d bear for someone else with as much honesty, you see what I mean? It’s Love’s grandest enthusiast…”

“Tell me who out there on this Earth is free from love’s grasps! From the passions it generates!

Me, Tino thought. He remained silent and left her side, leaving her to her mental lucubrations. She was concentrated on nothing in particular, until a beast-like sound escaped her, a grotesquely atrocious noise. She sobbed all of a sudden, fell on her knees, ordering for Tino, between her tears and her efforts to keep her hair out of the way, to leave, and never come back.

He could only accept. He had triggered the awaited reaction, although he had had to pull some… sensible strings. Though there is no place for worry, for the great musician he is knows what he does.

He went for the door and closed it behind him. He couldn’t hear the woman’s sobs, as she was enclosed in her splendid manor. What would she do? Release her sadness on a pillow more innocent than her? Continue on as if the exterior world stopped existing for a moment, sit on a chair which cost a minimum wage, and sip some excellent wine?

It didn’t matter to him. Tino knew she had food for thought. Now, he had to make Gilbert and Lovino meet, and he had no idea how to organize this encounter without it being suspicious. Well… subtlety wasn’t his forte anyway.

 

* * *

“Mathias and Berwald have gone to the embassy and the police station” Lukas declared matter-of-factly, to finally close Berwald’s file.

“You still don’t know why he’s been gone for such a long time?” Tino dared. “There must be an explanation.”

Lukas appeared to think for some time, during which Tino couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly be going on inside this cold and calculating spirit.

“Emil called me” he switched the topic, ignoring Tino. “He wants to meet to discuss stuff, or so he says.”

“It isn’t a bad thing per se”, Tino played along. “Join him in a café or something, somewhere where you’d be able to enjoy some time together. Ask him first, don’t order him, you see what it’s caused before…”

“Please, not now. And get off the counter, we’ve got chairs.”

Tino complied and sat on one of the kitchen chairs and observed Lukas live around, wriggle, fiddle with his phone, put it on the counter, brush his hair somehow, sigh, until he got annoyed.

“Stop it! Leave your phone, your stuff there, get these off your mind and breathe deeply. Could you tell me why you’re moving around like that? For someone who’s supposed to be full of sangfroid or something… I understand why you’re no role model for your brother.”

It earned him an icy glare he’d have liked to avoid, but he admitted he liked to tease Lukas’ sensibility and annoy him around was a praiseworthy hobby. He began to understand Mathias’ jokes and provocations. Well, Mathias had the certitude Lukas wouldn’t try to kill him, but Tino liked to live dangerously. And it’s not like Mathias had the heart to say such mean things…

“I’m kidding, Lukas. Delicate topic, I apologize. If he’s asking you to meet up, agree to it. I sincerely think you’ve got nothing more to lose. You owe him some explanation after all.”

Lukas acted as if he hadn’t heard and left the room, heading for his room and remaining there for some minutes. He then came out again dressed more properly, or so he said, to be presentable for his brother.

“You’re not meeting the Queen, it’s just your… littly little bro… Do young people still say that?”

“Nobody’s ever said that, Tino. You think it’s too serious for him?”

Tino was ravished Lukas dared to ask his opinion on the topic. He liked the promiscuity which he felt appearing between them, then. He stood up and undressed him a bit, removing the tight long-sleeved shirt, took his teeshirt out of his pants, pants he lowered just a bit.

“You really do dress like a teacher, Lukas. I don’t know if it’s a compliment or not.”

“I don’t like your sense of humor, Tino.”

“It wasn’t humor.”

He tried to preserve a neutral and determined face, but burst out into laughter seconds after, continuing his styling job on Lukas.

“I’m proud of you. You can sort things out with Emil. He’ll come back, don’t worry. Everything will be just right.”

“You’re coming with me?”

“Absolutely not.” Tino continued on the same sing-song tone.

Lukas pushed Tino away and left nonchalantly, taking his bag in the kitchen as he passed by.

“Don’t forget Peter at the school today, at noon.” He muttered almost begrudgingly.

“Berwald isn’t doing it?”

“He’s at the police station. Are you even listening to me?”

Tino shrugged innocently and winked as Lukas closed the door violently. He couldn’t hide a slight laughter, throwing his hand in the air to indicate his hilarity to God knows who.

He felt the need to sum up everything that had happened around him. Many of their stories were simultaneous, and he had, for instance, no idea if Peter was allright or not. Erik was most likely with his father, but how was he as well?

Emil was at his friend… well, boyfriend… or rather, who cares, he was at this Leon’s house and was about to see his brother for some bonding time together, and Tino wouldn’t jeopardize that. Gilbert? Tino had no freaking idea where he could be. He wasn’t at home, neither at Eliza’s, nor with Berwald or Mathias, so where had he left? Certainly heartbroken, he was perhaps hiding, like a stray cat, stuck until he’d feel ready to go out again…

Tino couldn’t know, so he skipped it. Peter it was, now. He couldn’t imagine the boy’s happiness, being reunited with his lost family. I mean, of course, if Tino could feel such a happiness, he’d certainly get throw out of the Upthere and thrown in hell… He laughed slightly and scratched his suddenly itchy back.

He had to do something, if he fell asleep right there, the angel built like a tank – his supervisor – would certainly come down and punish him for his laziness.

It was only ten and a half, he had the whole day in front of him. His figure disappeared from the living room, in front of Gilbert’s prying but astounded eyes.

* * *

 Tino hadn’t managed to coordinate his free time and his plans. In the end, he should have slept in. He found himself face to face with Berwald, who had left the police station earlier than expected, and waited for his child at the school doors. Tino didn’t understand the boiling feeling in his stomach, neither could he explain the buzzing in his ears, which made his discussion with Berwald more difficult than necessary.

“You’re gonna stay in town for much longer?”

Tino was stunned. He hadn’t imagined Berwald to be the guy who’d engage in some futile discussions, but visibly, this mysterious man hid many secrets, many facades, behind this extinguished personality and this brutal body. This bewitching assortment awakened his curiosity, which had butterflies swirl in his body, which he interpreted as what they really were: the burning desire to know more. What was wicked in this mindset?

“I don’t know. Depends on if I find somewhere to sleep, it’s as simple as that…” Tino announced with simplicity, stifling a dumb laugh.

“You can stay with us if you can’t find anywhere yet.”

“I don’t know… well, what you’re saying seems… ironical, don’tcha think? You still want to leave, after all. I heard it from Lukas.”

Berwald remained silent and fiddled with his hands, which trembled slightly, for an unknown reason. He then responded:

“I’ve already found elsewhere. I just gotta talk to Mathias and the boys about it, but now’s not time.”

“Well, that’s for sure. With Emil running way and Gilbert squatting your place… or perhaps… perhaps, in the end, it’s the right time. Everyone’s so tensed, you could try to distance yourself now, you spend all so much time together.”

 _And yet, you’ve just come back after months of absence,_ they both thought at the same time. The idea couldn’t leave their minds anymore, Tino even less, too curious for his own good, to finally satisfy the curiosity which itched his back.

“Peter missed you dearly. He’d often cry himself to sleep, thinking you’d never get back.”

Tino lowered his gaze. He thought about the boy’s despair again and his heart already started to bleed anew. He wondered why this heart of his would react this way, but yet, just the mention of it sparked the flame.

“You’ve got an excuse for this? What’re you gonna tell him?”

Tears were already caressing his cheeks, his blood felt like burning in his veins and the anger blinded his senses.

“It so unfair, what you did to him. All his torments, his chagrins, during six months or more, you caused them.”

He couldn’t hear the voice answering to him. He clenched his teeth, he clenched his fists, his body entirely was fighting along with the indignation, his understanding fought to keep control, but in vain.

“It’s not just a child, it’s… yours… and you dared abandon him”, he said between his clenched teeth, lifting his face up as a sign of challenge. “It’s perhaps the worst trait human nature has, and I can’t pardon you for that.”

He looked away and stared at the school doors instead, which soon would open for the children to be reunited with their families. Well, Berwald was there for _this_ reunion. Too bad he missed the ones happening each day for the past six months.

Tino didn’t even try to understand his own outburst, he knew it was justified. He was persuaded he was right, nothing would change his mind.

When the doors finally opened, Peter ran to them and hugged them both equally, which resonated as a shock for Berwald, said hug that Tino appreciated for its instructive value. What a nice lesson he deserved: Peter still loved him, but this love weakened with the overdue absence, so he had found refuge in someone else’s arms. Tino’s.

When they all turned around to reach home, Tino eventually noticed the shadows the tears had left on Berwald’s cheeks and even if only slightly, he felt guilty.

Unfortunately for him, this view vivified the heat in his body, and that’s when he knew.

 

* * *

Once home and their meal eaten in an uncomfortable silence, Tino disappeared in the garden to find his other clients. He didn’t feel well and blamed that on the stress he was being eaten up by, nonetheless, just as he raised his hand to disappear, a voice called him, and he thought he’d collapse.

“You were gonna to it again!” Gilbert exclaimed, panting. “You were going to leave, right?”

“What? What are you going on about? I’m just throwing the trash.”

“There’s no trash around.”

Tino appeared to think for a half-second and, although reflecting was hard, he was ready to counter with another lie, but Gilbert took him by the arm and lulled him with a begging tone:

“I beg of you, if you really can do this kind of stuff… Make me love Eliza again!”

Tino grimaced. The situation wasn’t in his favor, he had to admit, and it was seriously tiring. He was at fault, he shouldn’t have tried to teleport without checking his surroundings beforehand.

“Gilbert, you must be very tired to say such things. Friendly advice: sleep a bit more, if you ask me.”

The albino, disappointed, let go of him and stepped back a bit, biting his down lip.

“So make her fall in love with me again.”

“Changing the sentence doesn’t help the fact I can’t do anything. Besides, you love her alre-”

“You won’t convince me you’re not some sort of… magician or something. Since your arrival, Berwald has come back, I strangely feel better… even better, Lukas and Emil are getting along… If magic’s not involved, then I don’t see what brought all these good points together. We don’t see you for days, and yet, you’re only babysitter! What kind of schedule would have you gone like that! You must’ve done something.”

“If you believe in me, you should trust me, then. Why would I hide anything from you, guys? Gilbert, I needed fresh air. All your little quarrels strain me, really…”

Gilbert ignored that and went on with his puerile and useless demands. Tino would’ve silenced him, but his head began to hurt. Gilbert’s voice disappeared in the background noises of the garden: the swing shone like a demonic artefact ready to attack him. The grass tickled his ankles and wound onto his legs, the air was itching his skin and the light stung his eyes. This simultaneous stimulation of his whole body drove him crazy.

Gilbert put a single hand on his arm, and the contact electrocuted him. The last sentence he couldn’t decipher was “You were there back then!” which resonated a bit before disappearing into nothingness.

 

* * *

Parallel to this encounter was another entrancing adventure unfolding itself. Emil and Lukas were just leaving the restaurant they had had lunch in together, with an unfamiliar intimacy, or rather, an intimacy they had forgotten over time and which was somewhat reluctant to resurface.

Emil didn’t know what to do of his emotions. Lukas had revealed everything to him, during this meal. Everything. Eventually, Emil couldn’t even say if he was still hungry. He hadn’t known how to react: he couldn’t blame his brother, who, even if inexpertly, had tried to protect him with all his might. Then, after some reflection, he found his brother’s behavior plainly deplorable. He had been mistreated by imbeciles on the streets, yes, but imbeciles Lukas knew about! He had known who they were, and hadn’t warned a soul.

On the one side, Tino was relieved to know the old Vargas was on the job. This guy had spent his life bathing in these unclear waters of vandalism, so perhaps, perchance, he’d succeed in stopping the crooks who wanted him bad. The man fled countries because of his affairs, and it was complicated today, as both children and grandchildren were renowned in the country, but money and popularity protected him somehow.

Emil had stored everything. Each detail was now engraved in his mind, as mysterious as it was to him. Maybe it was because of Lukas’ intensity in his voice, a voice he used so melancholically, or perhaps it was the beating of his heart, a heart which hammered the words deeper in his head.

He had no way of actually remembering these events, and yet, he could see himself there, brush over them, see them unfold before his eyes. He could see, through the doorstep of his unconsciousness, the difficult nights, the cold ones, the ones where he was cuddled against his brother, afraid to see him die of the cold. He could see the long moment sat between his brother’s legs, waiting in front of a carton box where sometimes you could see some coins. After these waits, a crazy chase would occur, so dangerous for the poor baby he still was. The forces of order would catch up with them one day, a day where Lukas would be too tired to run. A day where his own forces would abandon him, would leave him to the hands of justice.

But it was not just, not fair. Lukas kept insisting on these words. Their situation was not fair, they had done nothing to deserve this. It was either death, or a life in misery, and Lukas affirmed he had no regrets whatsoever. That he’d have done anything, and that even today, he’d do anything to protect him.

After these crazy attempts at survival, these stories of hopelessness and unhappiness, Lukas assured him that everything wasn’t so terrible. That his favorite memory, the one he’d cherish all his life, came from this time. An afternoon, in a dark alleyway of a poor zone in Hamburg, a miracle happened.

He was too little for his age. A baby was supposed to be fatter, bigger, not so meager. Lukas had a deal with a woman back then: she’d provide food for the baby, while he helped her around sometimes.

“At first, I hadn’t understood. She came from Czechoslovakia and had recently suffered from a miscarriage, one month before the planned birth. She told me she had perhaps lost a child, but wouldn’t let another one leave this world if she could help it. So, she breastfed you. For six months, more or less. She lived with her husband, and he was the jealous type, so she hid it from him. She was also a florist, and I’d go to her shop, and she’d go in the back, just a chair with her, and finally you’d stop crying.”

This “finally” wasn’t out of irritation, but relief.

So, yes, he was too weak, too small, but in the end, he grew up nonetheless. And in these streets of Hamburg, between escapes and mendicancy, he made his first steps.

Emil shivered as he listened to the tale. It was a detail you usually wouldn’t forget, but he realized again how Lukas’ sweetish voice, so honeylike and genuine, brushed over the depths of his heart. He failed to hide the emotion the tale provoked in him, but didn’t care much. His voice dug his soul’s meanders.

“What was her name?” Emil inquired.

“Alena Maciková.”

“Have you seen her since?”

“One day, her husband discovered everything and chased us away. I haven’t seen her since.”

Emil thought he was stupid, but blamed that on the panic and sorrow, and also the adrenaline he must’ve went through all these years. He finally could fathom his brother’s former motives in anything, all these moments where he couldn’t understand his reactions, his decisions: that appeared clearly to him now, not excusable but clear, caused by the love he bore and the sense of duty he had developed.

“You first walked later than expected for a child, at one year and a half. Nothing dramatic, but worrying enough. During this year and a half, you fell sick twice, and twice I thought I had lost you. The second time, it happened right after you learned how to walk. I ran to Alena’s home, because you had such a high fever, or so I guessed, and you couldn’t stand anymore, you were tired, and that’s when I met her husband. Alena defended herself in front of his accusations, and she had described him as an impulsive idiot, and, well… that was right. He tried to punch me, but she intervened. Then, I ran, and that’s when I met Mathias quickly after. He was in Germany for other reasons, you’ll ask him, and he asked me if I wanted to live with him. He found a child doctor in emergency. And you lived.”

Emil couldn’t but replay this discussion in his head. The way home they chose was discreet, not much people, calm enough to let thoughts expand and reform themselves. Emil systemized his ideas and, as simple as it could sound, it was a long-term work, so he decided to lay the cornerstone: forgive Lukas. Understanding his motives allowed him to fully accept his condition and situation. He couldn’t admit, though, that they were orphans. They never left each other, so never were alone: there hasn’t been a day where they were without a family. They had each other, what more could he ask for?

The way home was destined to be interrupted at some point. Emil would go to Leon’s, for some time at least. They agreed to this during their lunch: Emil needed time. To think, to heal, for his own wellbeing.

As they reached the fatal intersection, Emil was astonished. Sometimes, he’d remember some of his friends’ words, when he was younger. “Has your brother emotions, at least?”

Emil found that oddly stupid, and even more now that they had to leave each other. The look in Lukas’ eyes, the one he offered his brother, was a direct hit in the heart, and he turned around weakly, so deeply moved by the unspoken thoughts of his only family.

He turned around the corner of the street and thought he was sinking in a deep dark mist. It was a violent feeling which pierced through him: he thought he was passing Hell’s doors, but these elucubrations finished quickly, as rapidly as they came to him. He tried to scream, received a knee in the stomach, which stopped his voice, and fought back as hard as he could.

Two big hands seized his right arm, and he tried, with his free one, to reach the corner of the street, to show Lukas he was being attacked, to tell someone, anyone, he needed help. He got slapped, which stunned him some more and darkened his vision and perceptions. He was being led by the arm, and his legs followed with difficulty.

He pulled the arm which had seized him, freed himself for a brief moment, and fell backwards. He thought a plan of escape through, but his brain was really the only thing left functioning, as his limbs didn’t seem to answer anymore. Panic overtook him quickly and soon his breathing was uneven, loud, heavy, and he felt his mind spinning, and although he got up, he quickly fell back, earning him a kick in the ribs.

Although groggy, he noticed with a single rapid glance the symbol of the black bird on this masked person’s neck.

It was them.

The strange figure took out a revolver and pointed it in his direction. Emil couldn’t focus on anything but the handgun over him. Black spots covered his visions and a burning sensation traversed his chest, a sensation fueled by his beating heart.

His mind, which had tried to tidy his thoughts, was beginning to show him numerous pictures he interpreted as the last images you see before you die. In the energy of the moment, he couldn’t ask himself questions and, strangely, he was more resolute to die than the killer was to kill him. It was incomprehensible, but on death’s doorstep, he didn’t want to question his entire life and accepted it as ending already. He had come a short way, just a short walk, full of sounds and colors, full of sensations and odors, but death’s doorstep absorbs everything. He couldn’t hear and couldn’t see, silence buzzed in his ears, or it was his beating heart, poor well-thought organ, which didn’t know this beating would be its last.

A last shiver shook his body, and the sound of the revolver exploded, and he inexplicably turned his head, and he saw Lukas’ body fall to the ground.

Without an odor.

Colorless.

Soundless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the fourth chapter!  
> It's not quite as long as it should've been, but I felt like cutting it in two, so it doesn't feel weird to read. And also because I do what I want, after all. Note that this fic's not abandoned, and that I will publish chapter 5 eventually, but I'm caught up in university stuff right now (finally going to university!) and it's gonna slow me down some more. Please pardon me, I'm doing my best, and I know it doesn't feel right to receive such a short chapter after such a long wait... but things don't always turn out how you want them to. I apologize.  
> I don't think there is any reference in this chapter.
> 
> Also, I apologize for the possible OOC for some characters, but... y'know, it's all a question of personal interpretation in the end anyway. Especially for Elizabetha/Hungary: don't worry, she's gonna become the Hungary we know and love at some point.
> 
> PS: It may sound like I'm pardoning Gilbert's behavior and blaming Elizabetha in the relationship. First of all, it's Tino's thinking, not mine, and it therefore doesn't represent my thoughts on their relationships. Tino's thinking is important, because it always shows how deep he's falling into a state he won't be able to crawl out from, so it's always very biased. He wants Eliza to feel guilty for her change of behavior but I swear I'm also going to do something like that for Gilbert. Hopeless romantic doesn't excuse his behavior at all.

**Author's Note:**

> This is in fact a crossover but... it's a French show and it's only known in France. It's called Joséphine Ange Gardien (literally Joséphine, Guardian Angel) and the heroin is played by Mimy Mathie and she's wonderful. She's basically an angel who's sent on missions on Earth (well, mainly in France tbh) to help people about love affairs, racism, homophobia or money. She's awesome.  
> Tino's just her. Every "angel" thing I speak of is canon in the series.
> 
> By the way, "apterous" means "wingless".


End file.
